CEA moots changes to transmission charge proposal

Wants each State to be treated as separate demand zone.

Bussiness Line Bureau

New Delhi, March 8

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the apex planning body in the power sector, has suggested changes to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) new proposal on inter-State transmission charges. The CEA, commenting on the Commission's Draft Regulation on Sharing of Inter State Transmission Charges and Losses, has suggested that transmission charges for generators must be specified individually and plant-wise, instead of grouping generators into geographical zones. It has also said that the principle of taking one State as a separate demand zone should be adopted all over India, including the north-eastern region.

The CERC's proposal mainly aims at avoiding “pancaking of transmission charges”. The draft proposes to replace the current ‘Regional Postage Stamp' method by a new ‘Point of Connection (PoC)' model. Under the Regional Postage Stamp method, States in a region share the charges and losses of transmission on a pooled basis in the ratio of quantum of power drawn through the inter-State transmission system. For instance, a State in the northern region buying power from a State in the eastern region will have to pay for pooled transmission charges and losses of both the northern and eastern regions. Under the new PoC proposal, transmission charges will be differentiated on a location basis, and the generators will have to take a view on transmission costs of electricity as well as on transportation costs of fuel.

Commenting on the new CERC proposal, the CEA has said that for private projects having their own dedicated transmission lines for immediate connectivity with the inter-State transmission grid, the point of termination of the line should be considered as the injection point for the purpose for PoC injection charges as well as for sharing.

Also, for greater transparency, the results of the State-wise generation data, provided by the Load Despatch Centres, which had formed basis of the transmission pricing methodology computations, should be made available to the public, the CEA has suggested.