Solar Hours Charges: On the front of electricity consumption, consumers are going to get a big relief in the coming days. In the coming days, there may be a reduction in your electricity bill. The electricity supplied during solar hours will be available to the consumers at 10 to 20 percent cheaper rates. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission considers 8 hours of the day as solar hours. During this period, which is called Time of Day, you will have to pay less money than the normal rates for the electricity supplied during that period.
The Central Government has announced two major changes in the existing power tariff system. For this, the government has decided to amend the Electricity (Right to Consumer) Rules 2020. The first change is regarding the price of electricity during solar hours, which is being called the Time of Day tariff system. The time-of-day tariff system will first be applicable to commercial and industrial consumers whose maximum consumption is up to 10 kW. For them, this rule will be applicable from April 1, 2024, and for consumers other than agricultural consumers, this provision will be applicable from April 1, 2025. Time of Day tariff system will be implemented immediately for the consumers for whom smart meters will be installed.
Giving information about this decision of the government, Union Energy Minister RK Singh said that the Time of Day tariff system is in favor of the consumers along with the country’s power system. He said that the time of day tariff system is divided into three categories such as peak hours, solar hours and normal hours. With this, consumers will be able to manage the load according to the tariff. Due to the cheapness of solar power, electricity will be cheap during solar hours. However during non solar hours such as thermal or hydro or gas based power will be costlier than solar power. With this, consumers can change their methods of electricity consumption.
The rules for smart meters have also been simplified. In order to avoid inconvenience to the consumers, the existing penalty has been reduced for increasing the load of electricity more than the maximum load. As per the amended rules on provision of meters, after the smart meter is installed, the consumer will not have to pay any penalty if the smart meter records the maximum load for the period prior to the installation of the smart meter . The rules for load revision have also been simplified. The load will be increased only after the load factor exceeds the fixed load three times in a financial year.
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