Network meeting and exposure visit to Auroville

Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) in association with Auroville Consulting (AVC), organised a three-day network meeting and visit to Auroville. Between August 21 and 23, 2024,  participants from different states of India (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Tripura) who partner with CAG on the project “Accelerating clean energy transition in India” had the opportunity to share experiences. 

The event was an opportunity to share knowledge and discuss the current state of the electricity sector, with a particular focus  on the rights of electricity consumers; and analyse  governance and  policy frameworks that shape the energy transition in India in their respective states

The sessions emphasized the importance of the following:

• Transparency,
• Responsibility and 
• Consumer involvement 

This visit included  learning experiences where CAG partners were exposed to real-time applications, best practices, and approaches within the electricity sector. The ultimate purpose was that participants would take back the wealth of information acquired to their respective states, and look for ways  to adapt and implement this knowledge in their own contexts. The visit  bridged the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, offering opportunities to engage with professionals, ask questions, and explore new environments. 

Participants at the event

Discussion among participants

21 August 2024 (Day 1): Introduction Day

The first day commenced with introductions of participants.  Mr. Vishnu Mohan Rao, Senior Researcher at CAG, delivered a brief welcome address and introduced the purpose of organizing the network meeting.  The experts leading the sessions were also introduced:

1. Mr. Y.G.Muralidharan, Founder Trustee, Consumer Rights Education and Awareness Trust [ CREAT ], Bengaluru, Karnataka.
2. Mr. George Cherian, Honorary Working President, Consumers Protection Association ( CPA ), Agartala, Tripura.
3. Prof. Narasimha Reddy Donthi, Member, People’s Monitoring Group on Electricity Regulation ( PMGER ), Hyderabad, Telangana   
4. Prof R. Sethumathavan, Consultant, CAG, Chennai.
5. Mr. J M .Boopathi, Founder, Consumer Rights Movement, Salem, Tamil Nadu.
6. Mr. Sanjay Sharma, Founder, Anmol Foundation, Chhattisgarh.  

Mr. Martin Scherfler, Co-founder of AVC, presented the agenda for the three-day workshop and expressed his enthusiasm for fostering a productive exchange of ideas among the experts present. He emphasized his desire for a fruitful discussion, leveraging the collective expertise to achieve meaningful outcomes

22 August 2024 (Day 2): Session 1: Experience sharing: Electricity consumer rights:  Mr. Y.G.MURALIDHARAN

Mr. Y.G. Muralidharan, Founder Trustee of CREAT, has had a distinguished career in the electricity sector. He served as  consultant on the inaugural drafts of the electricity regulation frameworks for Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Additionally, his  expertise in Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is from collaborating with  various electricity regulatory commissions within India and his  experience collaborating with regulators in the United States. He discussed the following customer-related topics in detail. 

1. Awareness 

To assess consumer awareness of the distribution performance standards outlined in the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), Mr. Muralidharan's team surveyed 3,000 individuals across 7 districts in Bangalore in 2000. He revealed that over 98% of consumers were unaware of their electricity rights at that time. This finding highlights the crucial need for enhancing consumer awareness to achieve transparent governance.  

2. Knowledge   

• He felt that the Consumer representatives must proactively engage in the commission's decision-making process regarding tariffs, rules, and regulations. Because independent consumer participation remains a challenge even today.
• The Electricity Regulatory Commission received numerous recommendations from civil society organizations regarding consumer challenges. However these recommendations were not implemented at an appropriate time period.  Therefore, based on the suggestions made by different stakeholders, civil society organisation should audit the number of implementations made.  
• He emphasized that consumers must have a basic understanding of key terms to effectively participate in grievance redressal procedures and advocate for their rights. Based on his experience from public hearings on behalf of Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), he learnt that the consumers are not aware of the following basic terms,  

Power purchase cost: The cost of producing electricity is determined by a number of factors, including the type of power generation used, fuel expenses for each generation source, generator efficiency, and capital and operational costs associated with each generator.

Power Purchase Agreement: A power purchase agreement (PPA) is a long-term contract between an electricity generator and a customer, which is typically a utility, government, or business. PPAs can last anywhere from 5 to 20 years, during which time the power purchaser purchases energy at a pre-negotiated rate. Such agreements are critical in the financing of independently owned (i.e., not owned by a utility) electricity generators, particularly renewable energy producers such as solar and wind farms.

3. Consumer Rating Survey  

• Various factors impact the regulatory commissions that oversee electricity. Therefore, NGOs will have the chance to identify and work on those challenges through  workshops such as these. 
• Also, he talked about the 2022 statistical survey, which included 17 distribution companies from different states in the nation, on consumer service ratings on DISCOMS. The number of its customers participated exceeds 31,000 crore. The evaluation tools or survey comprised  these items: 

1. Operational viability  

2. Connection & other services

3. Metering and billing

4. Fault rectification

• According to the results of the survey mentioned above, different states have been ranked differently based on how well they have performed, with Tamil Nadu being ranked A+, Andhra and Karnataka being rated A, and Pondicherry being rated C+. He implied that at the time of the survey,  not every state is equally well-prepared to receive a uniform rating. 

4. Amendments

• The Consumer Protection Act 1986, aims to protect consumers' interests by establishing consumer councils and other authorities to resolve disputes and related matters.
• According to a recent amendment to the Electricity Act, 2020, consumers can now legally participate in discussions about consumer issues. 
• However, surveys, and speaker’s experiences  reveal that if individual members of the public voice concerns about the Amendments, they are not given much thought. Therefore, civil society organizations must be required to take collective action. 

5. Guide to consumers

• Taking into account both the central and KERC rule frameworks, Mr. Muralidharan has created a simple guide for consumers on electricity service. He also plans to have such a guide for other states to help stakeholders from other states.  

6. Acountability 

• The first state to implement automatic payment procedures for electricity regulations was Andhra Pradesh. It gave the general public the ability to monitor and access payment-related activities remotely. He also underlined the need for us as a civil society to cross-check that such a system is developed and operating effectively in all states.   
• Mr. Muralidharan and team researched the effects of implementing standard operating procedures, particularly with regard to compensating customers in the event of a service provider's delays in responding to consumer grievances.  Despite the existence of rules, surprisingly not a single payment has been made in KERC. Therefore, it is crucial to keep a close eye on the transparency of compensation payments made to customers on schedule.

7. Challenges Ahead 

1. Visit the respective state Electricity Regulatory Commision (ERC) (Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh) frequently to stay informed about its rules.

2. A tool must be created to track the respective state [Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh] Electricity Distribution Companies about execution of their duties.  

3. Improvements to the complaint handling procedure.

4. Regulation must be monitored during the policy-making process. 

5. How to use the legal system and appropriate proof to hold officials responsible for their failure to perform their duties.   

Audience Discussion

At the end of Mr.Y.G.Muralidharan speech, the audience shared their views regarding:  

• Loss of life due to electrocution.
• Possible preventive measures (for example: tie rod and mesh arrangements in between the poles). 
• The differences between gross metering (selling all electricity produced by a consumer to the utility) and net metering (exporting excess power and subtracting it from imports) were discussed. 
• According to the Electricity (Rights of Consumer) Rules 2020, S.No 11 clause (4),  net metering is only applicable to prosumer (Producer and consumer of electricity) with rooftop capacity of up to 10 kW. However, beyond 10 kW capacity, gross meters are only applicable. Several stakeholders believed that this restriction would affect the growth of rooftop solar and opposed the government's efforts to raise the limit. As a result, the government amended the regulation in the year 2021 increasing the applicability of net metering  up to 500 kW and gross metering for loads above 500 kW respectively.
• Adopting a reasonable tariff structure is necessary for a thriving distribution company business, rather than a tariff structure based on political agendas. 

22 August 2024 (Day 2): Session 2: Experience sharing: Electricity consumer rights:  Mr. GEORGE CHERIAN

Mr. George Cherian gave a briefing about his forty years of experience working with customers in a variety of national settings, from Kerala to Tripura along with some  statistical information about Tripura (Tripura  has eight districts and shares an 800 km border with Bangladesh). Following that, the following topics were discussed:

1. Energy Scenario

He talked about Tripura's potential power share percentage. Prior to 2014, Tripura was known to have a power deficit; however, in 2014, natural gas sites were investigated. Since then , natural gas serves as the main source of power. About 78% of Tripura’s power comes from natural gas, 18% from hydropower, 1% from thermal energy, and 3% from renewable sources. Additionally, Bangladesh and nearby states receive Tripura's excess electricity exports.   

2. Awareness

He stressed the significance of consumer rights being realized. Towards this,  locals in the rural areas of Odisha were taught how to stop transformer burning and the value of metered connection through legal connection in partnership with a German company. He added that both villages and the Discom benefited from their joint efforts. 

3. Challenges

He emphasized that in order to attend tariff hearings and meetings of the electricity commission, consumers must build their capacity. A suitable tiered structure is required for the grievance redressal mechanism. When it comes to the appointment of senior officials, the regulatory commission's independence is crucial. 

4. Audience discussion

• A significant impact could be made on the electricity policy frameworks if experts from fields like engineering, law, and finance were included.   
• A capacity building program to build  awareness of roles and responsibilities among the executive officials, needs to be implemented.     
• Data submitted as part of the Annual Revenue Report (ARR), which the electricity department releases at the end of each fiscal year needs to be more transparent. 
• Periodically, distribution companies in each state should encourage healthy service-related negotiations with consumers in order to preserve operational transparency.  
• To help with decision-making, consumers should have several options for service providers when it comes to obtaining electricity. 
• Partner organisations of CAG recommended that exchanging newsletters regarding events in state-by-state electricity boards would be beneficial to the group. 

23 August 2024 (Day 3): Session 1: Experience sharing: Energy Transition:  Prof R. SETHUMADHAVAN

Prof R. SETHUMADHAVAN gave a brief overview of his prior experiences. He also shared his experiences as part of the  Kadambathur Energy Audit.  Additionally, the insights from the energy audits of seven Public Health Centers (PHC) and the Tiruvannamalai district's District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) building were discussed. Finally, he provided more details about the ongoing Vengikaal Panchayat Audit project. Moreover, he touched upon how  solar rooftop panel problems at different buildings were inspected and fixed.  

Following the presentation, the audience had a discussion about the standard operating procedure for rooftop solar panels.

1. Educate people to inspect a buildings’ grid-connected power generation system.
2. Power outages occur in grid-connected solar systems.
3. Daily monitoring and the installation of a generation meter are required.
4. Educate the consumers about electronic meters such as net meters, and bi-directionsl meters, and how reprogramming these can extend their functionality.  
5. Normal meters cost around ₹ 2000/- to ₹ 4000/-; whereas digital meters cost around ₹ 18,000/- to ₹ 20,000/- and bidirectional meters cost around ₹ 3450/-.
6. Regular operation and maintenance have to be followed to get maximum output from the installed system.

23 August 2024 (Day 3): Session 2: Experience sharing: Electricity consumer rights:  Prof. NARASIMHA REDDY DONTHI

Prof. NARASIMHA REDDY DONTHI gave a briefing regarding the various issues with the execution of government projects throughout the nation. Next, the significance of the energy transition at the national level and the potential for incorporating energy audits into the policy framework were explored. The significance of institutional change, including workforce upskilling and industry decarbonisation, was also covered. Then, he discussed a few micro modular energy reactor projects being brought to the Indian market. Government of India (GOI) seeks to deregulate power purchase agreements in this regard. Lastly, he recommended examining how crop production and biodiesel are affected by climate change.

Exposure Visit to Smart mini grid System in Auroville

The group visited the Auroville Smart Mini Grid Project site.  A battery energy storage system with a capacity of 424.8 kWh was found to have an installed solar PV capacity of 550.8 kW. Furthermore, according to the on-site technical person, about 40% of the electrical energy was generated by solar power. The participants were able to see first-hand how an autonomous mini-grid system could present as  a cost-effective choice for distributed energy systems. 

Explanation about Battery storage system by Technical Person 

Explanation about solar field by Technical Person 

Finally, Mr. Kannan, project engineer from Puducherry Electricity Board elaborated  about the smart meters. A Smart Meter is an electronic device that tracks energy use in real time and gives the data straight to energy suppliers. Smart Meters provide precise and timely data, in contrast to traditional Analogue Meters, which often result in estimated billing and require manual readings. This eliminates the uncertainty associated with estimated billing practices and guarantees that consumers are billed for the precise amount of energy they use. The cost of a Smart Meter is in the range of ₹ 18,000/- ₹20,000/-. The measurement, control, and monitoring  of energy consumption have advanced significantly with the introduction of Smart Meters. Smart Meters will be crucial in accelerating the shift to a more efficient and sustainable energy system as the energy landscape continues to change. 

Smart Meter Image    

Picture of Participants  at Smart meter site, Puducherry Electricity Board