The National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC), the designated organization for the registration and issue of Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), demanded an increase in the fees associated with the certificates, and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission agreed in a decision dated December 9.
NLDC said that the entire process was costing it money, and as a result, it had asked for a change that included the costs for State Level Load Despatch (SLDC) Centers as well.
The upgraded costs will be utilized for the complete upgrade of the REC Web application, necessitated as per the REC Regulations 2022, which also entails the exclusive expenditure on cybersecurity facilities and audit compliance in order to comply with the Government of India’s focus on cybersecurity.
Additionally, another major concern highlighted by these entities is that in accordance with the REC Regulations 2022, the registrations given by the Central Agency to qualified organizations will be valid for 25 years, which will further lower the fees collected for registration revalidation costs.
As a result, the CERC updated the One-time Registration Processing Fees, Registration Charges, Annual Charges for Registration, and REC Issuance Fees, from Rs. 1000, Rs. 5000, Rs. 1000, and Rs. 2/certificate to Rs. 10,000, Rs. 25,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5/certificate, respectively.
The new one-time accreditation and processing charges for State Load Despatch Centers have been raised to Rs 30,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively. The cost of accreditation has also increased, now costing Rs 10,000 annually.
At the floor price of Rs. 1000, the total RECs traded on the Indian Power Exchange in November were Rs. 372,000, an increase from the Rs. 356,000 certificates traded in October.
