CERC hearing on draft power tariff rules for 2014-19 on Jan 15

The draft regulations had stated that generation incentives should be linked to actual power produced instead of a plant's installed capacity.

Electricity regulator CERC will hold a public hearing on the draft tariff regulations it has prepared for central government-owned power generation utilities on January 15.

The draft regulations, released by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission last month, had stated that generation incentives should be linked to actual power produced instead of a plant's installed capacity.

It proposed that incentives for thermal power projects should be based on plant load factor (PLF) and not plant availability factor (PAF).

PAF, the declared generation capacity of a plant, remains the same. PLF is the actual generation and may vary depending on demand.

State-run power producers had said that under normal circumstances, PAF is generally higher than PLF and therefore incentives should not be linked to PLF.

State-owned NTPC, the country's largest generator of electricity, is likely to respond to the draft regulations.

"Public hearing on draft CERC (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations, 2014 for the tariff period from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019 will be on January 15," according to information on the regulator's website.

The CERC revises tariff regulations every five years. The existing regulations expire on March 31, 2014.