The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has stated that distribution companies (DISCOMs) cannot impose reliability charges on green open access consumers as it is not defined in the Green Energy Open Access Regulations, 2023.
The ruling came after the Distributed Solar Power Association (DISPA), Merino Industries, and Garg Spinning Mills filed a petition requesting an amendment to the provisions of the Renewable Energy Regulations 2021.
The petitioners argued that the HERC Tariff Regulations 2021 were inconsistent with the Ministry of Power’s Green Energy Open Access Regulations 2022, which lists all charges payable by green open access consumers. The DISCOMs had argued that the charges were necessary to cover the costs associated with maintaining system reliability.
However, the Commission found that the reliability charge was not part of the charges recoverable from green open access consumers under the regulations and therefore could not be imposed. This ruling is expected to provide relief to green open access consumers in Haryana.
 has ruled that distribution companies cannot impose reliability charges on green open access consumers as there is no provision for it in the Green Energy Open Access Regulations. The Commission agreed and noted that the reliability charge had not been made a part of the charges recoverable from green open access consumers under the regulations, and DISCOMs cannot impose them.){kind=link}