{"id":39891,"date":"2024-02-26T03:32:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T22:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=39891"},"modified":"2025-04-24T20:36:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T15:06:30","slug":"rooftop-solar-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/rooftop-solar-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly amended Electricity Rules and rooftop solar power"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>Key highlights of the amendment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, the Ministry of Power has notified amendments to the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020.<\/li>\n<li>In order to accelerate the installation of rooftop solar projects and empower consumers, the amendment contains provisions on connections in residential societies and solving complaints on meter readings.<\/li>\n<li>The amendments came a week after PM Modi launched PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana earlier this month.\n<ul>\n<li>This scheme will provide households with a subsidy of up to 40% to install rooftop solar panels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key highlights of the amendment<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Installing rooftop solar made easier and faster\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier, DISCOMs were required to conduct a feasibility study for rooftop solar projects within 20 days of an application being filed, and then intimate the outcome to the applicant.<\/li>\n<li>A technical feasibility study determines whether a property is physically and financially suitable for the installation of solar panels.<\/li>\n<li>The latest amendments have reduced that period to 15 days. Moreover, if the study is not completed by then, it shall be presumed that the proposal is technically feasible.\n<ul>\n<li>In other words, DISCOMs are no longer required to complete a technical feasibility study before accepting an application to begin the installation of solar panels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The rules also note that <u>solar PV systems up to a capacity of 10 kilowatts shall be deemed accepted without requiring a study<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>DISCOMs can also include expenditure on strengthening distribution infrastructure for rooftop solar projects (with a capacity of up to 5 kilowatts or higher) in its revenue requirement.\n<ul>\n<li>The exact maximum capacity shall be prescribed by each state electricity regulatory commission.<\/li>\n<li>In other words, the costs of strengthening distribution infrastructure for rooftop solar projects with a capacity of up to 5 kilowatts will be borne by DISCOMs, and this can be covered through its operations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Empowering consumers in residential societies\n<ul>\n<li>The new rules that allow people living in residential societies to choose between having separate connections for each household or having one connection for the entire society.\n<ul>\n<li>This choice will be made through a fair voting process organized by the distribution company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>If the owners opt for a single-point connection for the whole premises, then the association overseeing a residential society will be responsible for metering, billing, and collection of the amount due on a no-profit-no-loss basis.\n<ul>\n<li>In the case of individual connections, the DISCOM will be responsible for those tasks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The amendments also require DISCOMs to install an additional meter in case a consumer complains of meter readings not reflecting actual consumption.\n<ul>\n<li>If the meter is found to be inaccurate, the excess or deficit charges shall be adjusted in the subsequent bills, as per existing rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>New electricity connections to be provided more quickly\n<ul>\n<li>The amended rules have reduced the period for obtaining a new electricity connection or modifying an existing one in metropolitan areas from seven to three days.<\/li>\n<li>In other municipal areas, this has reduced from 15 to seven days, and in rural areas from 30 to 15 days.<\/li>\n<li>In rural areas with hilly terrain, however, the period will continue to remain 30 days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Electric Vehicles mentioned for the first time in the rules\n<ul>\n<li><u>DISCOMs are required to provide a separate connection for the supply of electricity to an EV charging point<\/u> if requested by a consumer and within the revised period as mentioned above.<\/li>\n<li>In other words, EV owners in New Delhi, Bangalore, or other metropolitan cities can now get a new electricity connection to charge their cars in three days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is DISCOM?<\/h3>\n<p>DISCOM stands for Distribution Company. They are companies that buy electricity from producers and sell it to consumers.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2)\u00a0What is a solar photovoltaic (PV) system?<\/h3>\n<p>A solar photovoltaic (PV) system is a power system that uses sunlight to generate electricity.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/new-amended-electricity-rules-rooftop-solar-consumers-ev-9180002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>3 ways in which the newly amended Electricity Rules boost rooftop solar power; empower consumers &amp; EV owners<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2008289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>PIB<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PM Surya Ghar will provide households with a subsidy of up to 40% to install rooftop solar panels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}