The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC) regulations will apply to any form of open access that uses an intrastate transmission system or distribution system in conjunction with interstate transmission lines. According to the Open Access Regulations, 2022, consumers with contracted demand or a sanctioned load of 100 kW will be eligible to procure green energy through open access in West Bengal. There will be no load restrictions for captive consumers who obtain power through green energy open access.
Access will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis to long-term and medium-term customers. Long-term customers will take higher priority over medium-term and short-term customers, and medium-term customers will take priority over short-term customers. Within each category of open access consumers, the priority will be a distribution licensee to the extent of its requirement for meeting demand. The power intended for distribution licensees will be prioritised among collective transactions. Non-fossil fuel sources will take priority over open access from fossil fuels for spare capacity availability in both transmission and distribution systems for long-term open access.
The State Transmission Utility will be the state’s nodal agency for arranging long-term and medium-term open access (STU). The state load dispatch centre (SLDC) will be the nodal agency for short-term open access, which includes open access for an emergency requirement within the state. Every month, the STU must update the SLDC on the users of long-term and medium-term open access as well as new applicants and requisitioned capacity, for allotment priority, as defined by the open access regulations, to be properly implemented.
The Commission will also establish the transmission licensee’s annual fixed cost in the tariff order in accordance with tariff regulations, as well as the transmission charges for long-term open access and medium-term open access in terms of “MW per month”. The rate of wheeling charges payable to the distribution licensee in “per kWh” will be determined by the Commission.
