RERC announces draft (first amendment) Net metering regulations 2018 for rooftop & small solar grid interactive system.

Rajasthan Electricity Regulation Commission (RERC) has recently notified the draft (first amendment) of net metering regulations, 2018 for rooftop & small solar grid interactive system in Rajasthan. The pilot net metering regulations came in 2015, after that this is the first amendment proposed by the commission. Since the first regulations, the feed-in tariff for solar PV has reduced drastically even lower than feed-in-tariff determined by the Commission for such projects. However, the Rajasthan commission is of the opinion that the tariff determined through auctions for Mega power projects cannot be made applicable for Rooftop solar PV projects which are of the kilowatt capacities (max.1000 kW) due to the higher capital cost of such rooftop projects.
The current amendment also talks about the excess electricity generated by the rooftop generator in the regulation clause 10(3) as follows:
“ Provided that in the event the electricity injected exceeds the electricity consumed during the billing period, such excess injected electricity above 50 units shall be paid by the Distribution Licensee at its Average Power Purchase Cost of the previous year. Provided further that Commission may review the above rate through an order as and when required. Net energy credits less than 50 units under Net Metering achieved in the particular billing period shall be adjusted in the next billing period till credit of 50 units is achieved.”

The regulation will come into effect after the date of notification in the official gazette.
Rajasthan commission has also released a discussion paper recently suggesting that the DISCOMs should purchase green energy directly instead of buying the electricity component form the RE projects.