Following India’s worst power outage last July, the government is looking at changes to connectivity regulations to improve transmission and grid functioning, a top official said Wednesday.
“We’re trying to see what changes are required to the connectivity regulations. It is to be done by the regulatory body, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC),” Power Secretary P. Uma Shankar said on the sidelines of the “Indian Electricity – 2013” conference here.
Shankar told mediapersons that though there is large power generation, there is lack of transmission planning.
“Just asking for connectivity and linking up with the grid is not enough. You’ll have to plan the transmission, where you want to take the power, so that the transmission system can be planned,” Shankar told power producers.
The government is thus examining changes required to the Central Electricity Authority grid regulations that govern entities, various Load Despatch Centres and Regional Power Committees involved in the transmission sytem.
Regarding the power tariff revisions recently undertaken by most states, Shankar said the government was trying to ensure that states adhered to the yearly schedule of settling tariffs.
“The model tariff regulations and the Electricity Act say that tariff petitions are to be filed by November 30 and by the beginning of the next fiscal year the tariff question will be settled. This has not happenend with many states,” said the power secretary.
“We are trying to see this should happen. We are saying this schedule should be adhered to if you ( state distribution companies) want to take advantage of the financial restructuring programmes initiated for discoms,” Shankar added.
Millions of people across North and East India were left without power in one of the world’s worst blackouts, trapping miners, stranding train travellers and plunging hospitals into darkness when grids collapsed for the second time in two days in July last year.