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State of Punjab - Act

Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Open Access) Regulations, 2005

PUNJAB
India

Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Open Access) Regulations, 2005

Rule PUNJAB-STATE-ELECTRICITY-REGULATORY-COMMISSION-OPEN-ACCESS-REGULATIONS-2005 of 2005

Published on 9 August 2005
Commenced on 9 August 2005
[This is the version of this document from 9 August 2005.]
[Note: The original publication document is not available and this content could not be verified.]

Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Open Access) Regulations, 2005Published vide Punjab Government Notification No. PSERC/Secy/Regulation 18, dated 9th August, 2005Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission,No. PSERC/Secy./Regulation 18. - In exercise of powers conferred under Section 42 read with Section 181 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) and all other powers enabling the Commission in this behalf, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission hereby makes the following Regulations, for Open Access in the State.

1. Short title and commencement.

(1)These Regulations shall be called the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Open Access) Regulations, 2005.

(2)These Regulations shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official gazette of the State.

2. Definitions.

- In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -

(a)"Act" means the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003);

(b)"Commission" means the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission;

(c)"Consumer" for the purpose of these Regulations shall be a consumer as defined under Clause (15) of Section 2 of the Act; and shall also include a person seeking Open Access.

(d)"Cross-subsidy for a consumer category" means the difference between the average realisation per unit from that category and the combined average cost of supply per unit computed as the total revenue requirement for a licensee in that year including any previous years' gaps divided by total energy sale, expressed in percentage terms as a proportion of the combined average cost of supply as stated above;

(e)"Day" means starting at 00.00 hours and ending at 24.00 hours;

(f)"Month" means a calendar month;

(g)"Nodal Agency" means a Nodal Agency, specified in these Regulations, for arranging non-discriminatory Open Access to transmission or distribution system or both;

The Nodal Agency for long-term and short-term Open Access (in transmission or distribution system or both), shall be the State Transmission Utility (STU) and the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) respectively;

(h)"Open Access" means the non-discriminatory provision for the use of transmission lines or distribution system or associated facilities with such lines or system by any licensee or consumer or person engaged in generation in accordance with the Regulations of the Commission;

(i)"Open Access Customer" means a consumer permitted by the Commission to receive supply of electricity from a person other than distribution licensee of his area of supply, or a generating company (including captive generating plant) or a licensee, who has availed of or intends to avail of Open Access;

(j)"Redressal Mechanism" shall include redressal of all disputes relating to Open Access i.e. denial of Open Access, meeting and billing etc.

(k)"State" means the State of Punjab;

(l)"State Transmission Utility" means the Board or the Government company specified as such by the State Government under sub-section (1) of Section 39;

(m)Words and expressions occurring in these Regulations and not defined herein above shall bear the meaning assigned to them in the Act.

3. Extent of Application.

- These Regulations shall apply to Open Access for use of intra-State transmission system and/or the distribution system of licensees in the State, including when such systems are used in conjunction with inter-State transmission system.Note. - A consumer/person whose premises are situated within the area of supply of a distribution licensee, seeking to receive supply from a person other than the distribution licensee of his area of supply; a generating company (including captive generating plant) or licensee seeking to supply to a consumer/person in the State, would need to apply for Open Access under these Regulations.

4. Eligibility for Open Access and Conditions to be satisfied.

(1)Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, the licensees, generating companies, including persons who have established captive generating plants(s) and consumers, shall be eligible for Open Access on the intra-State transmission system of the State Transmission Utility or any other transmission licensee on payment of the transmission charges as determined by the Commission from time to time, as per the appropriate Regulations framed by the Commission.

(2)Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, the licensees, generating companies including persons who have established captive generating plant(s) and consumers shall be eligible for Open Access on the distribution system of any distribution licensee on payment of the wheeling charges as determined by the Commission from time to time, as per the appropriate Regulations framed by the Commission.

(3)Such Open Access shall be available on payment of surcharge and/or additional surcharge as may be determined by the Commission in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 17 and 18, in addition to payment of transmission and/or wheeling charges, as the case may be.

(4)A person having been declared insolvent or bankrupt or having outstanding dues against him for two months or more of billing of any transmission or distribution licensee shall not be eligible for Open Access.

5. Special Provisions for existing distribution licensees.

(1)The distribution licensees using intra-State transmission system and/or the distribution system in the State on the date of coming into force of these Regulations under an existing arrangement shall be entitled to continue to avail Open Access on such transmission and/or distribution system on the same terms and conditions on payment of transmission charges and/or the wheeling charges and other applicable charges as may be determined by the Commission from time to time :Provided that in case any distribution licensee was permitted/authorised by the State Government to supply energy to any person outside the area of supply under Section 27 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 (now repealed by the Act), there will be no surcharge applicable till the current validity of such consent/authorisation.

(2)The existing distribution licensees shall, within 60 days of coming into force of these Regulations, furnish to the State Transmission Utility and the State Load Despatch Center, details of their use of the transmission system and/or the distribution system and the terms and conditions for such use.

6. Provisions for existing consumers and generating companies availing Open Access.

(1)The existing consumer or a generating company other than the distribution licensees availing Open Access under agreements or Government policy on the date of coming into force of these Regulations shall submit to the State Transmission Utility and the State Load Despatch Center details of capacity utilized, point of injection, point of drawal, duration of availing Open Access, peak load, average load and such other information as the State Transmission Utility or the State Load Despatch Center may require, within 60 days of coming into force of these Regulations.

(2)The existing consumer or a generating company under clause (1) above may continue to avail Open Access on terms and conditions as per the policy of the State Government or the agreement till the current validity of the policy/agreement. In cases where Open Access is currently being availed under sub-clause (1) above, but which are not covered by any policy directive by the State Government or an existing agreement, Open Access shall be provided on payment of charges as per these Regulations.

(3)Bhakra Beas Management Board, presently supplying electricity to person(s) in the State on behalf of its partner States as per the directions/instructions of Government of India, shall continue to supply on the existing terms and conditions and such person(s) would not be required to pay any surcharge or additional surcharge. However, the Bhakra Beas Management Board would supply the requisite details of such arrangement to the STU and SLDC within 60 days of coming into force of these Regulations.

7. Categorisation of Open Access Customers.

- Subject to the provisions of Regulations 5 and 6, the Open Access customers shall be classified into the following categories :-

(1)Long-term Open Access Customers :An Open Access customer availing Open Access for a period of five years or more shall be the long-term Open Access customer.

(2)Short-term Open Access Customers :An Open Access customer availing Open Access for a period of one years or less shall be the short term Open Access customer :Provided that the short-term customer shall be eligible to obtain fresh reservation after expiry of his term.

8. Criteria for allowing Open Access.

(1)The long-term Open Access shall be allowed in accordance with the transmission system planning criterion and the distribution system planning criterion stipulated in the State Grid Code or as specified by the Commission from time to time.

(2)The short-term Open Access shall be ordinarily allowed, if request can be accommodated without jeopardising the safety of the grid system by utilising :

(a)Inherent Design Margins;

(b)Margins available due to variation in power flows; and

(c)Margins available due to in-built spare.transmission/distribution capacity created to cater to future load growth.

9. Allotment Priority.

- The priority for allowing Open Access shall be decided on the following criteria :

(1)The person covered by Regulations 5 and 6 shall have the first priority;

(2)The long-term Open Access customer shall have the priority over the short-term customer;

(3)Within each category, the distribution licensees shall have the priority;

(4)The long-term existing Open Access customer shall have the priority over new long-term Open Access customers provided he applies for its renewal atleast 60 days prior to the expiry of existing term of Open Access;

(5)The processing for long-term Open Access customers will be carried out during the first week of each month and all the Open Access Applications received during the previous month, will be treated at par for processing the applications and not for allocation of capacity;

(6)Subject to clauses (1) to (5) above, the decision for allocation of capacity for long-term Open Access customers shall be on the basis of first come first served.

(7)The capacity reservation for short-term customers will be carried out within the processing time indicated in Regulation 13(4). For application requiring the Open Access for a period up to thirty days, subject to clauses (1) to (4) above, the decision of reservation of capacity shall be on the basis of first come first served. For applications requiring the Open Access for a period for more than thirty days, subject to clauses (1) to (4) above, all the applications received within a month would be treated at par for processing and for reservation.

(8)In case of short term access for a period for more than thirty days, if the capacity sought to be reserved by the customers is more than the available capacity at that point of time, the following procedure would be followed :-

(a)State Load Despatch Centre shall invite snap bids;

(b)The floor price for the bidding shall be the price determined under Regulations 16(1) and 9(9);

(c)The bidders shall quote price in terms of percentage points above the floor price;

(d)The reservation of capacity will be made in decreasing order of the price quoted;

(e)In case of equal price, if required, the reservation of capacity shall be made pro-rata to the capacity sought; and

(f)The customer getting reservation for a capacity less than the capacity sought by him shall pay charges quoted by him and the customers getting capacity reservation equal to the capacity sought by them shall pay charges quoted by the last customer getting full reservation of capacity sought by him.

(9)The State Load Despatch Centre shall develop a detailed procedure for reservation of capacity to short term customers, including the procedure for bidding, within 90 days of notification of these Regulations and submit the same to the Commission for approval.

10. Nodal Agency.

(1)The Nodal Agency for arranging long term Open Access in all cases shall be the State Transmission Utility whether its system is used or not; and for that purpose, a distribution licensee and/or transmission licensee, whose system gets associated with such long term Open Access, shall be responsible to co-ordinate with the State Transmission Utility and provide all relevant information required to take decision for providing Open Access.

(2)Similarly, the Nodal Agency for short-term Open Access shall be the State Load Despatch Center and in such case, the State Transmission Utility and/or a transmission licensee and/or a distribution licensee concerned, as the case may be, shall be responsible for co-ordinate with the State Load Despatch Center and provide all relevant information required to take decision for providing Open Access.

11. Issue of Guidelines.

- The State Transmission Utility and the State Load Despatch Center shall develop guidelines, procedures and application forms for applying for long-term and short-term Open Access respectively within 90 days of notification of these Regulations and submit the same to the Commission for approval.

12. Procedure for Long term Open Access.

(1)A person intending to be a long term Open Access customer shall file an application to the State Transmission Utility with details such as the capacity needed, generation planned or power purchase contracted, point of injection, point of drawal, duration of availing Open Access, peak load, average load and any other additional information that may be required by the State Transmission Utility;

(2)A consumer intending to avail Open Access shall also submit a copy of his application to the distribution licensee who is supplying electricity to him;

(3)The application shall be accompanied by a non-refundable fee of Rs. 50,000/- payable in the name and in the manner laid down in the guidelines issues by the State Transmission Utility;

(4)The State Transmission Utility shall, in consultation with State Load Despatch Centre, transmission and distribution licensees and based on system studies by the concerned licensee or otherwise, assess the capacity available and communicate the decision to the applicant within 90 days of the receipt of the application;

(5)If, in the opinion of the State Transmission Utility, further system strengthening is essential before providing long-term access, the applicant may request the State Transmission Utility to carry out system studies and preliminary investigation for the purpose of cost estimate and completion schedule for system strengthening;

(6)The State Transmission Utility shall carry out the studies immediately on receipt of request from the applicant under Clause (5) above and intimate results of the studies within 90 days of receipt of request from the applicant. The applicant shall reimburse the actual expenditure incurred by the nodal agency for system studies and preliminary investigation referred to in clause (5) above :Provided that the fee of rupees fifty thousand paid by the applicant shall be adjusted against the actual expenditure to be reimbursed by the applicant.

13. Procedure for Short-term Open Access Customer.

(1)A person intending to be a short-term Open Access customer shall submit an application for Open Access to the State Load Despatch Center. The application shall contain such details as capacity needed, generation planned or power purchase contracted, point of injection, point of drawal, duration of availing Open Access, peak load, average load and such other additional information as may be required by the State Load Despatch Center;

(2)A consumer shall also furnish a copy of his application to the distribution licensee of his area of supply;

(3)The application shall be accompanied by a non-refundable application free of Rs. 10,000 payable in the name and in the manner laid down in the guidelines issued by the State Load Despatch Center; and

(4)The State Load Despatch Center shall take a decision on the application within the time period as specified below :

S. No.	Term of Open Access	Maximum Processing time
1.	Upto one day	12 hours
2.	Upto seven days	Two days
3.	Upto thirty days	Seven days
4.	Upto one hundred and eighty days	Fifteen days
5.	Upto one year	Thirty days

14. Open Access Agreement.

(1)An Open Access customer shall enter into commercial agreements with the transmission and distribution licensees, SLDC and others, as applicable for use of their transmission and distribution systems;

(2)The agreement shall provide, amongst other things, billing and payment terms and eventuality of premature termination of an agreement and its consequences on the contracting parties;

(3)After the agreements have been entered into and copies furnished to the State Load Despatch Center, the State Load Despatch Center shall inform the Open Access Customer the date from which Open Access will be available which shall not be later than 3 days from the date of furnishing of agreements by the Open Access Customer.

15. Non-utilisation of Open Access Capacity.

(1)Long-term Open access Customers :

(a)A long-term Open Access customer may apply for graded profile of capacity requirement. In such case, the State Transmission Utility may consider and allot capacity in graded manner to him;

(b)In case a long-term Open Access customer is unable to utilize the capacity allotted to him, he shall inform the State Transmission Utility along with reasons for his inability to utilize the capacity and may request for surrender of the capacity allotted to him by serving a notice of 30 days, after which the relevant capacity would be deemed to have been surrendered;

(c)The State Transmission Utility may reduce or cancel the allotted capacity of an Open Access customer on account of utilisation after providing appropriate notice;

(d)The penalty payable for such reduction or cancellation or surrendering of capacity shall be 20% of the charges payable by such customer excluding charges for dedicated system under Regulation 16(1)(b), for the capacity so surrendered/cancelled/reduced for balance period of allocation; and

(e)In addition to the above, for customers who were also provided any dedicated transmission and/or distribution systems, the penalty payable for reduction or cancellation or surrendering of such dedicated capacity shall be 100% of the charges payable by such customer for the dedicated capacity so surrendered/cancelled/reduced for balance period of allocated, unless they can find alternate users for the such dedicated capacity.

(2)Short-term Open Access Customers. - (a) In case a short-term Open Access customer is unable to utilize the reserved capacity to him, he shall inform the Nodal Agency with a copy to distribution licensee along with reasons for his inability to utilize the capacity and may surrender the reserved capacity;

(b)The State Load Despatch Center may reduce or cancel the reserved capacity of a short-term Open Access customer on account of under-utilisation after providing appropriate notice under intimation to distribution licensee;

(c)A short-term Open Access customer, whose capacity has been reduced or cancelled or surrendered, shall bear the Open Access charges and operation charges based on the original reserved capacity for a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of request or the period of reservation surrendered or reduced or cancelled, as the case may be, whichever period is shorter.

(3)The State Transmission Utility shall develop the guidelines in this regard, in consultation with SLDC, within 90 days of notification of these Regulations and submit the same to the Commission for approval.

16. Charges for Open Access.

(1)The transmission charges and/or wheeling charges for use of the transmission and/or the distribution system of the transmission licensee and/or the distribution licensee shall be regulated as under :-

(a)Transmission charges and wheeling charges shall be determined by the Commission as per the appropriate Regulations framed by the Commission.

However, long terms Open Access customers shall be liable to pay one-third (33.33%) of the aggregate of full transmission and wheeling charges determined by the Commission as per the Tariff Order applicable for the year. For the year 2005-06, these charges shall be as determined separately by the Commission.

(b)Where a dedicated transmission system and/or a distribution system has been constructed for exclusive use of a long-term Open Access customer, the transmission charges and/or wheeling charges for such dedicated system shall be recovered entirely from such Open Access customer for such period till the surplus capacity is used for other persons or purposes.

(c)The short-term Open Access customers shall pay one-fourth (25%) of the aggregate of transmission and wheeling charges as determined by the Commission as per the Tariff Order applicable for the year :

Provided that above charges shall be on per day or part thereof basis as determined by the Commission and shall be in Rs. Per MW and shall remain valid till revised by the Commission :Provided further that when reservation of capacity has been done consequent to bidding, the rate shall be taken as determined through by bidding :Provided that the price determined under Regulation 16(1)(c) shall be the floor price for the purpose of Regulation 9(8).

(d)25% of the charges collected from the short-term customers shall be retained by transmission and/or distribution licensee and the balance 75% shall be adjusted towards reduction in transmission and/or wheeling charges of the transmission and/or distribution licensee respectively chargeable to long-term customers and/or retail tariff of the consumers of the distribution licensee.

(2)In case intra-State transmission system and/or distribution system is used by an Open Access customer in addition to inter-State transmission system, transmission charges and/or wheeling charges for use of intra-State transmission system and/or distribution system shall be payable in addition to payment of transmission charges for inter-State transmission.

17. Surcharge.

(1)In addition to transmission charges and wheeling charges, a consumer availing Open Access to the transmission system and/or distribution system shall pay a surcharge worked out in the manner laid down hereunder :Provided that such surcharge shall not be leviable in case Open Access is provided to a person who has established a captive generating plant for carrying the electricity to the destination of his own case.

(2)The current level of cross-subsidy shall be the cross-subsidy for a consumer category as determined by the Commission in the Tariff Order applicable for the year for the distribution licensee of his area of supply;

(3)The current level of cross-subsidy for a consumer category shall be the basis for determination of the surcharge applicable to that consumer category. The surcharge shall be equal to one-half (50%) of the current level of cross- subsidy;

(4)The Surcharge shall be paid to the distribution licensee of area where the premises of the consumer availing Open Access are located; and

(5)The consumers availing Open Access exclusively on inter-State transmission system shall also pay the same surcharge as determined under this Regulation.

(6)The consumer availing Open Access through dedicated lines even without involving licencee's Transmission and/or Distribution System shall be liable to pay same surcharge as determined under this Regulation.

18. Additional Surcharge.

(1)A consumer availing Open Access and receiving supply of electricity from a person other than the distribution licensee of his area of supply shall pay to the distribution licensee an additional surcharge in addition to wheeling charges and surcharge, to meet the fixed cost of such distribution licensee arising out of his obligation to supply as provided under sub-section (4) of Section 42 of the Act.

(2)The additional surcharge shall become applicable only if it is conclusively demonstrated by the distribution licensee that his obligations on fixed cost commitments have been and continue to be stranded or that there is an unavoidable obligation and incidence to bear fixed costs consequent to such a contract. The distribution licensee shall indicate the quantum of such stranded costs and the period over which they would be stranded.

(3)The additional surcharge shall be determined by the Commission on a case-to-case basis.

(4)The consumers availing Open Access exclusively on inter-State transmission system shall also pay the additional surcharge as determined under this Regulation.

(5)The consumers availing Open Access through dedicated lines even without involving licensee's Transmission and/or Distribution System shall be liable to pay same additional surcharge as determined under this Regulation.

19. Metering.

(1)The Open Access customer shall provide ABT compatible Special Energy Meters at the point of injection if not already provided and point of drawal.

(2)The Open Access customer shall provide Main Meters on his premises as specified in the State Grid Code.

(3)The generating company or the licensee contracting to effect supply to an Open Access customer shall also provide Main Meters at injection points as specified in State Grid Code.

(4)The distribution licensee shall provide along with Main Meters, Check Meters of the same specification as Main Meters at the point of injection and point of drawal.

(5)The Main and Check Meters shall be periodically tested and calibrated by State Transmission Utility/distribution Licensee as per State Grid Code.

(6)Reading of Main and Check Meters shall be taken periodically at appointed day and hour by authorised officer of distribution licensee as per procedure specified in State Grid Code.Meter readings shall be immediately communicated by the distribution licensee within 12 hours to State Load Despatch Center, State Transmission Utility and generating company/or the trading licensee, as the case may be.

(7)An Open Access customer may request distribution licensee to provide Main Meters. In that case he shall provide security to distribution licensee and shall pay as per Schedule of General Charges, rentals for the Main Meter(s) which shall be maintained by the distribution licensee.

(8)Main and Check Meters shall have facility to communicate their readings to the State Load Despatch Center on real time basis.

(9)The term 'Meter' shall include current transformers, potential transformer, wiring between them, meter box and panel.

(10)The procedure for joint sealing, replacement of defective meter, billing in the event of meter(s) becoming defective shall be followed as laid down in the State Gride Code.

20. Communicating facility.

(1)An Open Access customer shall provide for or bear the cost of equipments for communication up to nearest Sub Load Despatch Centre or State Load Despatch Center for two channels for communicating meter readings on real time basis.

(2)An Open Access customer shall set up a round the clock control room with operator and ensure facilities of :

(i)Telephone/Mobile with S.T.D.

(ii)Transmission and receipt of Fax and E-mail.

21. Operating charges.

(1)The operation charges payable to the State Load Despatch Center by all long-term Open Access customers shall be as determined by the Commission under Section 32 of the Act.

(2)A composite operating charge @ Rs. 3,000/- per day or part of the day shall be payable by a short-term customer for each transaction to the State Load Despatch Centre or as determined by the Commission from time to time.

(3)The operating charge includes fee for scheduling and system operation, energy accounting, fee for affecting revisions in schedule on bona fide grounds and collection and disbursement of charges. The operating charges collected by the State Load Despatch Centre in accordance with Clause (2) shall be in addition to fees and charges specified by the Commission under clause (1) of this Regulation.

22. Unscheduled interchange pricing.

- The entitlement at the drawal point shall be worked out after considering the Transmission and Distribution losses.The mismatch between the injection and overdrawal for any block of time shall be met from the grid and shall be governed by UI charges (As notified by CERC, from time to time) or applicable tariff for that category, at that point of time, whichever is higher. However, mismatch would be calibrated by loading the T&D losses before working out the UI charges.In the event of under-drawal by the Open Assess customer for any block of time, the same shall be governed by applicable UI charges or applicable tariff for the category, at that point of time, whichever is lower.

23. Reactive Energy Charges.

- The payment for the reactive energy charges for the Open Access customers shall be calculated in accordance with appropriate Regulations.

24. Energy losses.

- The transmission and distribution losses for the Intra- State System shall be determined by the Commission in their Tarrif Order for the applicable year and shall be apportioned in proportion to the actual energy drawal by the Open Access customers. The energy losses shall be compensated by additional injection at the injection point(s).The Open Access customers shall be required to bear one half (50%) of the aggregate of transmission and distribution losses determined by the Commission.

25. Other Commercial Conditions.

- As a payment security towards charges, a deposit equal to 2 months of the average billing of that charge only on the basis of agreed capacity shall be maintained with each of the relevant agency, namely, State Transmission Utility, any other transmission licensee, distribution licensee and State Load Despatch Centre.

26. Compliance with Grid Discipline.

- The Open Access customer shall abide by the Indian Electricity Grid Code, the State Gride Code and instructions given by State Transmission Utility and State Load Despatch Centre as applicable from time to time.

27. Collection and Disbursement of charges.

(1)The transmission charges and wheeling charges in respect of Open Access customers shall be payable directly to respective licensees;

(2)The surcharges and additional surcharge shall be payable directly to the distribution licensee in whose area of supply the consumer availing Open Access is located;

(3)The Operation Charges in respect of Open Access customers shall be paid to the State Load Despatch Centre; and

(4)The Reactive Energy Charges and Unscheduled Interchange Charges as determined by SLDC shall be paid to the transmission licensee and/or distribution licensee in whose area of supply the consumer availing Open Access is located.

28. Phasing of open Access.

(1)The Open Access to the intra-State transmission system shall be allowed to all customers subject to the satisfaction of the conditions contained in the Act and in these Regulations;

(2)Open Access to the intra-Satate distribution system shall be allowed to consumers having regard to operational constraints and other relevant factors, and shall be in the following phases :

Sr. No.	Phase	Category of consumers	Open Access to be allowed before or on
1.	Phase I	Consumers with demand of 15 MW and above	January 1, 2006
2.	Phase II	Consumers with demand of 3 MW and above	April 1, 2006
3.	Phase III	Consumers with demand of 1 MW and above	April 1, 2006

(3)Based on the experience of operation of Open Access in Phase I and II, the Commission may revise the schedule for allowing Open Access in subsequent Phase;

(4)The Commission may allow Open Access to consumers with demand of less than 1 MW at any time as it may consider feasible having regard to operational constraints and other factors; and

(5)Notwithstanding the above phasing, the Commission may allow Open Access to any consumer/person, having regard to the operational constrains and other factors.

29. Curtailment Priority.

- When because of system constraint or otherwise, it becomes necessary to curtail the Open Access service of the customers, subject to terms of State Grid Code, the short-term Open Access customers shall be curtailed first followed by the long-term Open Access customers. Within a category, the Open Access to distribution licensee shall however be the last to be curtailed. Subject to this, the curtailment shall be on pro rata based on allocated/reserved capacity.In case of curtailment of more than 50% of the reserved capacity by the State Load Despatch Centre on any particular day on account of system constraints, the transmission and/or wheelling charges for that day shall be payable by the short-term customers on pro rata basis in accordance with the capacity actually provided.

30. Information system.

(1)The State Load Despatch Centre shall post the following information on its website in a separate web page titled "Open Access information" and also issue a quarterly report containing such information to the Commission :-

(i)A status report on long-term and short-term Open Access customers indicating :-

(a)Name of customer;

(b)Period of the Open Access granted (start date and end date);

(c)Point(s) of injection;

(d)Point(s) of drawal;

(e)Supply voltage at injection and drawal points; and

(f)Open Access capacity used.

(ii)the information regarding average energy loss in the transmission and distribution system as determined by the Commission in Tariff Order for the applicable year.

(iii)The information regarding rate of surcharge payable by the Open Access customers.

(iv)The information shall be updated upon every change in status.

(v)All previous reports shall be available in the web-archives.

(2)The Commission may seek such additional information and provide such directions, as required for smooth implementation of Open Access in the State.

31. Redressal Mechanism.

(1)All disputes and complaints relating to Open Access shall be referred to the Commission.However, the disputes and complaints regarding metering and billing etc. shall be first referred to the Commercial and Metering Committee constituted under the State Grid Code. The Committee shall investigate and endeavour to resolve the grievance with 30 days; and

(2)If the Committee is unable to redress the grievance, it shall be referred to the Commission by the Committee or the Open Access customer.

32. Fee for Approaching the Commission.

- The fee payable for approaching the Commission under Regulation 28(5) or for redressal of issues relating to Open Access shall be Rs. 1,000/- in each case. This will be besides the fee payable under Regulations 12(3) and 13(3). No fee shall be payable to the Commission in case the matter is referred to the Commission by the Committee under Regulation 31(2).

33. Powers to Remove Difficulties.

- If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of these Regulations, the Commission may by general or special order, direct the State Transmission Utility, State Load Despatch Centre, licensees and the Open Access customers, to take such action, as may appear to the Commission to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing difficulties.

34. Power to Amend.

- The Commission may, at any time add, vary, alter, modify or amend any provision of these Regulations.

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