Monday, February 17, 2014: With the increasing emphasis of the government to turn to clean energy, some state governments are facing tariff related issues. The Maharashtra government is unhappy with the heavy gaps in the tariff structure for the solar energy.
In a Hindu Business Line report, Ajoy Mehta, the Principal Secretary, Energy, Maharashtra, said that against a procurement cost of Rs 3.30-3.50 a unit of conventional energy, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking charges Rs 3.50 per unit at the lower end and for large commercial consumers at Rs 11 per unit. The tariff for agriculture is Rs 1 per unit.
The revenues earned from the higher tariff levied on large consumers amounted to Rs 96 Billion, of which, the lag caused by agriculture supply accounted for Rs 65 billion. Furthermore, Rs 10 billion amounted for subsidy for the low-end users (between 0 to 100 units consumers), and the balance was inclusive of the public supply (like street-lighting). There is also an added cost of providing infrastructure like for transmission lines and connectivity.
If the procurement cost of grid-based solar energy was Rs 6-7 per unit, then the commercial and industrial consumers need to be taxed more.
At the same event, Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy. Abdullah said if the country wanted to be progressive and not be a slave to petrol- and coal-producing countries, then focus has to be on solar energy. These include a 4,000 MW solar project close to salt water lake in Rajasthan. In remote areas such as Ladakh, transmission lines are being set up to take power generated from solar projects to various villages. We have been running a pilot project to assess the viability of large-scale grid-connected rooftop solar projects and the run has been successful so far.”
