4 July:Dr. Pramod Deo, Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) today highlighted his priority areas as the Central Regulator in the electricity sector in India. Following are the main features of his interaction with the media in New Delhi:
ƒæ Regulations for Terms and Conditions of Tariff for 2009 ¡V 14 which CERC proposes to finalize shortly, would be so designed as to minimize micro management and lead to light handed regulation. Electricity is highly capital intensive industry and it is very difficult to standardize costs because of various factors, Dr. Deo said. However, the Commission is exploring the possibility of benchmarking various components of project cost to induce efficiency in management of the cost of project by the developers, including CPSUs.
ƒæ Chairperson, CERC is also the Chairperson of Forum of Regulators (FOR) which consists of Chairpersons of State Commissions as Members. Dr. Deo emphasized that FOR in its meeting on 13th June, 2008 identified some critical areas – e.g.,
o promotion of renewables,
o demand side management,
o facilitating open access,
o protection of consumers etc.,
and constituted Working Groups for detailed study and recommendations.
ƒæ Chairperson, CERC also emphasized on the need for ensuring grid discipline and informed that penalties have been imposed in the past for grid indiscipline. The Commission is issuing notice under section 142 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya for contravention of Commission¡¦s direction on payment of Unscheduled Interchange (UI) charges.
The Commission has facilitated setting up of a power exchange by granting permission to two entities viz., M/s. India Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) and M/s. Power Exchange India Limited. Power exchange has provided another avenue for transactions and transfer of power between buying and selling entities.