KSEB seeks law amendment to charge solar consumers same bill as others

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government had promised a huge reduction in the bill, good prices for the extra electricity generated, subsidies, etc. for the rooftop solar project. KSEB is now letting down the people who have spent lakhs believing this.

The Electricity Regulatory Commission will today hold a public hearing on a petition filed by the board seeking an amendment to the law to charge solar consumers the same bill as others and reduce the amount of electricity sold by 78 paise per unit.

Gross meters will be installed to replace the net meters installed to benefit solar owners. The current practice is to reduce the price of electricity supplied to KSEB in the solar owner's bill and charge only the remaining amount. The balance will be purchased by KSEB at Rs 3.22 per unit.

When it comes to gross meters, cheating is twofold. First, the price of solar power will be reduced to Rs 2.44. Two- You have to pay the entire electricity bill.

For example, if a person with an electricity bill of Rs 6000 is generating Rs 4500 worth of electricity, then the person has to pay only Rs 1500. With the change in the rules, like other consumers, they have to pay the full bill and incur huge losses for the electricity sold.

According to KSEB, the change will apply to rooftop solar with a capacity of 500 kW. But if the rules are amended, the board will have the power to remove the terms. The whole solar consumer will be affected. The amendment also applies to wind turbines.

The Central Electricity Act stipulates that states must generate at least 5 per cent of their electricity through solar or wind. If not, you need to buy a Renewable Energy Certificate or buy solar power from outside at a hefty price. To avoid this, the government came up with rooftop solar. Concessions were announced to attract people. The move is to eliminate all that. With this, those who want to install solar will also back off.

The justification for this is that net metering is a huge loss. KSEB, in its application to the Regulatory Commission, points out that the Central Act has been amended to require the purchase of electricity at a gross meter rate from solar generating 500 kilowatts or more.

292 MW-Solar production in the state

2.78 lakhs-Consumers registered for rooftop solar