In the exercise of powers conferred under section 178 of the Electricity Act, 2003 36 of 2003

Here is the extracted English text: RGD. No. D. L.-33004/99 CG-DL-E-11072024-255297 The Gazette of India EXTRAORDINARY PART III—Section 4 PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY No. 468] NEW DELHI, MONDAY, JULY 1, 2024/ASHADHA 10, 1946 3889 GI/2024 (1) CENTRAL ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 15th March, 2024 No. L-1/268/2022/CERC.—In the exercise of powers conferred under section 178 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) read with Section 61 thereof and all other powers enabling it in this behalf, and after previous publication, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission hereby makes the following regulations, namely: CHAPTER – 1 PRELIMINARY 1. Short title and commencement. (1) These regulations may be called the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations, 2024. (2) These regulations shall come into force on 1.4.2024, and, unless reviewed earlier or extended by the Commission, shall remain in force for a period of five years from 1.4.2024 to 31.3.2029: Provided that where a generating station or unit thereof and transmission system or an element thereof, has been declared under commercial operation before the date of commencement of these regulations and whose tariff has not been finally determined by the Commission till that date, tariff in respect of such generating station or unit thereof and transmission system or an element thereof for the period ending 31.3.2024 shall be determined in accordance with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations, 2019 as amended from time to time. 2. Scope and extent of application. (1) These regulations shall apply to all cases where tariff for a generating station or a unit thereof and a transmission system or an element thereof is required to be determined by the Commission under section 62 of the Act read with section 79 thereof: Provided that any generating station for which agreement(s) have been executed for the supply of electricity to the beneficiaries on or before 5.1.2011 and the financial closure for the said generating station has not been achieved by 31.3.2024, such projects shall not be eligible for determination of tariff under these regulations unless fresh consent of the beneficiaries is obtained and furnished. (2) These regulations shall also apply in all cases where a generating company has the arrangement for the supply of coal or lignite from the integrated mine(s) allocated to it, for one or more of its specified end use generating stations, whose tariff is required to be determined by the Commission under section 62 of the Act read with section 79 thereof. (3) These regulations shall not apply to the following cases: - (a) Generating stations or transmission systems whose tariff has been discovered through tariff based competitive bidding in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central Government and adopted by the Commission under section 63 of the Act; (b) Generating stations based on renewable sources of energy whose tariff is determined in accordance with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Tariff determination from Renewable Energy Sources) Regulations, 2020. 3. Definitions. - In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires: - (1) 'Act' means the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003); (2) 'Additional Capital expenditure' means the capital expenditure incurred, or projected to be incurred after the date of commercial operation of the project by the generating company or the transmission licensee, as the case may be, in accordance with the provisions of these regulations; (3) 'Additional Capitalisation' means the additional capital expenditure admitted by the Commission after prudence check, in accordance with these regulations; (4) 'Admitted capital cost' means the capital cost which has been allowed by the Commission for servicing through tariff after due prudence check in accordance with the relevant tariff regulations; (5) 'Annual Target Quantity' or 'ATQ' in respect of an integrated mine(s) means the quantity of coal or lignite to be extracted during a year from such integrated mine(s) corresponding to 85% of the quantity specified in the Mining Plan; (6) 'Ancillary Service' or 'AS' in relation to power system operation means the service necessary to support the grid operation in maintaining power quality, reliability and security of the grid and includes Primary Reserve Ancillary Service, Secondary Reserve Ancillary Service, Tertiary Reserve Ancillary Service, active power support for load following, reactive power support, black start and such other services as defined in the Grid Code; (7) 'Auxiliary Energy Consumption' or 'AUX' in relation to a period in case of a generating station means the quantum of energy consumed by auxiliary equipment of the generating station, such as the equipment being used for the purpose of operating plant and machinery including switchyard of the generating station and the transformer losses within the generating station, expressed as a percentage of the sum of gross energy generated at the generator terminals of all the units of the generating station; Provided that auxiliary energy consumption shall not include energy consumed for the supply of power to the housing colony and other facilities at the generating station and the power consumed for construction works at the generating station and integrated mine(s); Provided further that auxiliary energy consumption for compliance with revised emission standards, sewage treatment plant and external coal handling plant (jetty and associated infrastructure) shall be considered separately. (8) 'Auxiliary energy consumption for emission control system' or 'AUXe' in relation to a period in the case of coal or lignite based thermal generating station means the quantum of energy consumed by auxiliary equipment of the emission control system of the coal or lignite based thermal generating station in addition to the auxiliary energy consumption under clause (7) of this Regulation; (9) 'Auditor' means an auditor appointed by a generating company or a transmission licensee, as the case may be, in accordance with the provisions of sections 224, 233B and 619 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), as amended from time to time or Chapter X of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or any other law for the time being in force; (10) 'Beneficiary' in relation to a generating station covered under clauses (a) or (b) of sub-section 1 of section 79 of the Act, means a distribution licensee who is purchasing electricity generated at such generating station by entering into a Power Purchase Agreement either directly or through a trading licensee on payment of capacity charges and energy charges: Provided that where the distribution licensee is procuring power through a trading licensee, the arrangement shall be secured by the trading licensee through back to back power purchase agreement and power sale agreement; Provided further that beneficiary shall also include any person who has been allocated capacity in any inter- State generating station by the Government of India; (11) 'Capital Cost' means the capital cost as determined in Regulation 19 of these regulations in respect of generating station or transmission system, as the case may be, and Regulation 41 of these regulations in respect of integrated mine(s); (12) 'Change in Law' means the occurrence of any of the following events: (a) enactment, bringing into effect or promulgation of any new Indian law; or (b) adoption, amendment, modification, repeal or re-enactment of any existing Indian law; or (c) change in interpretation or application of any Indian law by a competent court, Tribunal or Indian Governmental Instrumentality which is the final authority under law for such interpretation or application; or (d) change by any competent statutory authority in any condition or covenant of any consent or clearances or approval or licence available or obtained for the project; or (e) coming into force or change in any bilateral or multilateral agreement or treaty between the Government of India and any other Sovereign Government having implications for the generating station or the transmission system regulated under these regulations. (13) 'Commission' means the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission referred to in sub-section (1) of section 76 of the Act; (14) 'Communication System' means communication system as defined in sub clause (h) of clause (i) of Regulation 2 of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Communication System for inter-State transmission of electricity) Regulations, 2017; (15) 'Competitive Bidding' means a transparent process for procurement of equipment, services and works in which bids are invited by the project developer by open advertisement covering the scope and specifications of the equipment, services and works required for the project, and the terms and conditions of the proposed contract as well as the criteria by which bids shall be evaluated, and shall include domestic competitive bidding and international competitive bidding; (16) 'Cut-off Date’ shall be the last day of the financial year closing after thirty six months from the date of commercial operation of the project, except in case of integrated mine(s); (17) 'Date of Commercial Operation' or 'COD' in respect of a thermal generating station or hydro generating station or transmission system or communication system shall have the same meaning as defined in the Grid Code, as amended from time to time: Provided that Date of Commercial Operation of integrated mine(s) shall have the same meaning as specified in Regulation 5 of these regulations; (18) 'Date of Operation' or 'ODe' in respect of an emission control system means the date of putting the emission control system into use after meeting all applicable technical and environmental standards, certified through the Management Certificate duly signed by an authorised person, not below the level of Director of the generating company; (19) 'Date of Commencement of Production' in respect of integrated mine(s) means the date of touching of coal or lignite, as the case may be, as declared by the generating company; (20) 'Declared Capacity' or 'DC’ in relation to a generating station means, the capability to deliver ex-bus electricity in MW declared by such generating station in relation to any time-block of the day as defined in the Grid Code or whole of the day, duly taking into account the availability of fuel or water, and subject to further qualification in these regulations; (21) 'De-capitalisation' for the purpose of the tariff under these regulations, means a reduction in Gross Fixed Assets of the project as admitted by the Commission corresponding to the inter-unit transfer of assets or the assets taken out from service; (22) 'De-commissioning' means removal from service of a generating station or a unit thereof or transmission system including communication system or element thereof, after it is certified by the Central Electricity Authority or any other authorized agency, either on its own or on an application made by the project developer or the beneficiaries or both, that the project cannot be operated due to non-performance of the assets on account of technological obsolescence or uneconomic operation or due to environmental concerns or safety issues or a combination of these factors; (23) 'Design Energy' means the quantum of energy which can be generated in a 90% dependable year with 95% installed capacity of the hydro generating station; (24) 'Element' means an asset which has been distinctively defined under the scope of the transmission project in the Investment Approval, such as transmission lines, including line bays and line reactors, substations, bays, compensation devices, Interconnecting Transformers which