You may opt for power supplier soon

New Delhi: The Government is in the process of revisiting provisions of the National Power Tariff Policy and make necessary amendments to ensure open access cross subsidy surcharge is set according to each state.

"The Power Ministry, along with the Planning Commission, is studying the Tariff Policy and very soon we might come out with a revised policy," Power Secretary R V Shahi said on Saturday at a conference.

He, however, refused to put a time frame for the Government to come out with a revised policy saying, "It is not possible to put a time frame. We are studying the possibilities."

Asked why the open access regime had still not been implemented even after two years, Shahi said there was a problem with the cross subsidy tariff.

"We tried to implement open access but the feedback was that the cross subsidy tariff part of the policy needed to be revisited," Shahi said.

The open access surcharge is a key provision in the enabling framework to enable high-end consumers to select the electricity suppliers of their choice under the open access regime envisaged in the Electricity Act 2003.

The main merit of this model is that it provides a better platform, which eventually helps to bring down the cost of supply.

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has said cross subsidy surcharge for open access should not be determined on a uniform rate, since all state electricity boards do not face the same situation in implementing it.

"The Power Ministry is studying the matter and will make necessary changes in the National Power Tariff Policy if need be," the Power Secretary said.

The National Tariff Policy, announced by the Power Ministry in January, had stipulated a single uniform formula for all state regulators to calculate the cross-subsidy surcharge for open access in distribution.

The surcharge is basically a payment to be made by a consumer to compensate his existing electricity supplier for having moved to another distribution company.

However, regulators had raised the ante against the move by the Centre on the grounds that one uniform formula was difficult to apply in different states and wanted the flexibility to fix the formula for open access surcharge.