The role of policy in development has always been a topic of interest to me and it led me to pursue a masters degree. Now, I have submitted my thesis titled ‘The Evolution of Electricity Retail Markets in a Low Carbon World: An Indian Utility Case Study’.
The research for this topic involved reviewing case studies from other electricity markets especially considering the impact of solar rooftop adoption on electricity retail tariffs. The Indian utility considered for evaluation was Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM). A detailed analysis of its past reports, Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) filings, consumer and energy sales figures were analysed. It provided a solid reasoning to estimate the impact of existing rooftop solar PV policies and solar tariffs to the utilities.
A key part of the thesis turns out to be a new solar tariff proposed through this research. Under the Gross Metering regulations the solar tariffs are proposed to vary depending on the consumer. Although this could raise questions, it proves to be beneficial to the utility under Gross Metering who tend to increase tariffs under the pretext of revenue loss incurred. Also, considering the next phase of installing smart meters, flexible tariffs could be easily adopted and not to mention the declining solar system costs.
Since the report is under review I wouldn’t want to discuss the case in detail. However, I have presented key snapshots from the analysis in the slide deck below.
Comments/feedback/suggestions are welcome. Do drop a line if you need to know more about this research.
Mission Shunya 