State electricity tariffs
HPERC’s clearance of a 1 MW rural-area PPA has reframed how State electricity tariffs should be read in Himachal Pradesh. Although the commission has approved the agreement at Rs 3.45 per kWh, it has categorised the tariff as provisional and explicitly subject to adjustment against any capital subsidy received or deemed to be received.
This places State electricity tariffs squarely inside a conditional revenue framework. HPERC has directed that if admissible subsidy is not applied for or not ultimately availed within two years, it will be deemed to have been received, enabling HPSEBL to recover the corresponding benefit from future payments. The downside risk of administrative delay or ineligibility has been assigned entirely to the developer.
The scheduled commercial operation date has been fixed at 10.09.2026, and the approved tariff is stated to apply until 31.03.2027. However, the order makes clear that this firmness exists only within the boundary of subsidy adjustment. Any capital support can still compress effective realisation even after commissioning.
Evacuation has been contractually frozen into the PPA through the existing connection agreement and a joint evacuation arrangement that includes a waiver of claims for shared-evacuation losses. No compensatory tariff mechanism has been provided for distribution-system risk.
The order is silent on the quantum or timing of any applicable subsidy. That omission matters because the magnitude of subsidy directly determines the scale of post-approval tariff clawback.
These features place Solar power projects and DISCOMs Latest News at the centre of how State electricity tariffs are now being underwritten.
EnergylineIndia.com documents how tariff approvals are becoming compliance tools rather than revenue guarantees, State Tariffs, HPERC, Tariff Certainty, Solar Power, PPA.
