Section 26 in The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Distribution Open Access) Regulations, 2014
26. Imbalance Charge.
- 26.1 Scheduling of all transactions pursuant to grant of Long-term Open Access or Medium-term Open Access or short-term Open Access shall be carried out on day-ahead basis in accordance with the relevant provisions of IEGC for Inter-State transactions and in accordance with State Grid Code/Commission's Orders for Intra-State transactions.Provided that the provisions of the Regulation 26 of these Regulations are not applicable for Open Access generators and consumers who are participants of State Pool and for them the provisions of energy balancing and settlement as specified in Final Balancing and Settlement Mechanism or any other Balancing Settlement Mechanism stipulated by the Commission from time to time, shall be applicable.26.2Settlement of Energy at Drawal Point in respect of Open Access Consumer: Deviations between the schedule and the actual injection and/or drawal in respect of Open Access consumer shall be settled as under:26.2.1Over drawal :The over drawal by an Open Access consumer shall be settled at higher of the below two options:(i)The System Marginal Price (SMP) plus other Incidental charges (Net UI charges, additional UI) or any other intra-State ABT settlement charges as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism operating in the State from time to time or,(ii)The Energy charge or Variable Charge of temporary tariff category, whichever is applicable, as identified in the Tariff schedule as determined by the Commission from time to time for the concerned Distribution Licensee.26.2.2Under drawal :In the event of under drawal the Open Access consumer will not be paid any charges by the Distribution Licensee:Provided that if any penal charges are levied under the inter-State UI mechanism this charge shall be recovered by the Distribution Licensee from the Open access consumer on a pro-rata basis.26.3Over-drawal and Under-drawal of Open Access transactions26.3.1The Scheduled energy (in kWh) at consumption point for Open Access Consumer shall be calculated for each time block from the scheduled capacity (kW) at the consumption point, as provided in the drawal schedule, by multiplying it with the period of time block.26.3.2The Scheduled demand at consumption point shall be calculated by dividing the scheduled capacity (kW) at consumption point by the power factor for the time block, for which purpose the Power factor shall be considered as unity.26.3.3Calculation of over drawal or under drawal shall be as under:a. Overdrawal by the Open Access Consumer = (Recorded drawal of consumer in each time block) - Minimum of (Scheduled demand/energy at consumption point, Actual demand/energy made available to a consumer from Open Access Generator at that consumption point) - Scheduled demand/energy entitlement from the Distribution Licensee.b. Underdrawal by the Open Access Consumer = Minimum of (Scheduled demand/energy at consumption point, Actual demand/energy made available to a consumer from Open Access Generator at that consumption point) - (Recorded drawal of consumer in each time block).26.4Out of the recorded drawal, the scheduled entitlement as an Open Access customer will first be adjusted and the balance will be treated towards Contract Demand of the consumer. The variation in recorded maximum drawal will be accounted for/charged as under:-26.4.1When over drawal is identified on the contract demand as a consumer of the Distribution Licensee, the extent of over drawal after reconciliation under Regulation 26.3 above, would be levied as demand surcharge on the consumer in a manner similar to the provision of the retail tariff applicable to such consumer. Settlement of energy over drawal of a consumer will be as per Regulation 26.2.1 above.26.4.2When the recorded drawal of a consumer is less than the scheduled entitlement as an Open Access customer, it will be treated as a case of under drawal as per Regulation 26.2.2 above.Provided that the consumer will, however, be governed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Multi Year Tariff) Regulations, 2011 as amended from time to time, and the Schedule of Tariff approved by the Commission from time to time.26.5Deviations between the schedule and the actual injection and/or drawal in respect of Open Access taken by a Generating Company/Trading Licensee on behalf of Generator shall be settled as under:26.5.1Over injection(a)If any over injection than that scheduled by the generator/trader leads to benefit of the grid then such over injection will be settled either at UI charge applicable under the Inter-state ABT mechanism or the SMP plus other Incidental charges (Net UI charges, additional UI) or any other intra-State ABT settlement charges as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism operating in the State from time to time or at the weighted average cost of Long-term power purchase sources excluding Renewable sources and Liquid fuel based generation of the Distribution Licensee, whichever is lower.(b)If any over injection than that scheduled by the generator/trader is detrimental to the grid, then for such over injection the OA generator/trader shall pay to the state pool either at UI charge applicable under the Inter-state ABT mechanism or the SMP plus other Incidental charges (Net UI charges, additional UI) or any other intra-State ABT settlement charges as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism operating in the State from time to time, whichever is higher:Provided that the Distribution Licensee being the Nodal agency, shall levy and collect such charge from the Open Access generator/trader/Member of Power Exchange and pay into the state pool account as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism.26.5.2Under injectionAny under injection than scheduled, to be complied by the Open Access generator/Licensee, will be met from the grid and will be paid for by the generator/trader to the Distribution Licensee at UI charge applicable under Inter-state ABT mechanism or the SMP plus other Incidental charges (Net UI charges, additional UI) or any other intra-State ABT settlement charges as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism operating in the State from time to time, whichever is higher. In addition, the congestion charge, if any as identified either by RLDC and/or SLDC to fulfil the obligations of the Open Access Generator will also be payable to the Distribution Licensee:Provided that distribution loss would not be loaded on any generator/trader if it is connected directly to the intra-State transmission system:Provided further that if the under injection persists for 2 days continuously, the SLDC shall give notice to the generator/trader for revision of its schedule. If the generator/trader fails to inject according to the Open Access schedule in such a case the generator/trader should immediately revise the schedule or else it shall be liable to for the penalty equivalent to two times the System Marginal Price (SMP) plus other Incidental charges (Net UI charges, additional UI) or any other intra-State ABT settlement charges as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism operating in the State from time to time.The generator/trader will however be liable to pay the Open Access charges for the full reserved capacity for the entire period.26.5.3As and when the Generators in the State are declared as participants of Intra-state ABT regime, the following would be applicable :-(a)Any generation up to 105% of the declared capacity in any time block of 15 minutes and aggregated averaging up to 101% of the average declared capacity over a day shall not be construed as gaming and the generator shall be entitled to UI charges identified as the SMP plus other Incidental charges (Net UI charges, additional UI) or any other intra-State ABT settlement charges as identified under the intra-State ABT mechanism operating in the State from time to time or lowest variable cost of generation, whichever is lower, for such excess generation above the declared capacity of Scheduled Generation (SG).(b)For any generation beyond the prescribed limits, the State Load Despatch Centre shall investigate so as to ensure that there is no gaming, and if gaming is found by the State Load Despatch Centre, the corresponding UI charges due to the generating station on account of such extra generation shall be reduced to zero and the amount shall be adjusted in UI account of beneficiaries in the ratio of their capacity share in the generating station :Provided that the above condition may be modified/altered by the Commission by any specific/general Order or Regulations from time to time.26.6Payment of imbalance charges shall have a high priority and the concerned constituents (including the Licensees or the Open Access customers as the case may be) shall pay the indicated amounts within seven (7) days of the issue of the statement, into a State imbalance pool account operated by the SLDC. The person who has to receive the money on account of imbalance charges would then be paid out from the State imbalance pool account, within three (3) working days.26.7If payments against the above imbalance charges are delayed by more than two days, i.e., beyond twelve (12) days from the date of issue of statement, the defaulting party shall have to pay simple interest @ 0.04% for each day of delay. The interest so collected shall be paid to the person who had to receive the amount, payment of which got delayed. Persistent payment defaults, if any, shall be reported by the SLDC to the Commission, for initiating remedial action.26.8The Regulation 26 shall not be applicable in case an Open Access consumer arranges supply from Renewable Energy generating plant identified as 'Non-firm power' in the MERC (Terms and conditions for determination of RE Tariff) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time :Provided that for sourcing 'Non-firm power' from a Renewable energy generator as defined in MERC (Terms and conditions for determination of RE Tariff) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time, the surplus power after set off with Open Access Consumer's consumption shall be purchased by the Distribution Licensee with following conditions :-(1)Credit for energy injected should be provided strictly on the basis of 15 minute time block basis.(2)The surplus energy after set off with Open Access Consumer's consumption in the same 15 minutes time block shall purchased by the Distribution Licensee at the approved Average Power Purchase Cost of the Distribution Licensee by the Commission for respective year :Provided that the Distribution Licensee would be able to meet its Renewable Purchase Obligations through purchase of such surplus energy.Explanation. - for the purpose of these Regulations, 'Average Power Purchase Cost' means the weighted average price at which the Distribution Licensee has purchased the electricity including cost of self generation, if any, approved by the Commission in the Tariff Order or Truing Up Order or any other general or specific Order. In case of absence of any such Order, last approved 'Average Power Purchase Cost' shall be used for settlement purpose.
