Gujarat's open-access changes this autumn: additional surcharge up, banking charge down
From 1 October the additional surcharge rose to ₹0.99/unit; from 1 September the banking charge fell to ₹1.00/unit. Together they add about ₹4.5 lakh a year to a typical PPA buyer's bill and take ₹2.2 lakh off a captive buyer's.
Two Gujarat decisions in quick succession have changed the economics of open-access renewable power for the second half of FY 2026-27. They pull in opposite directions, and they affect third-party and captive buyers differently.
What changed
| Charge | Before | Now | From | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banking charge (on banked energy) | ₹1.50/kWh | ₹1.00/kWh | 1 Sep 2026 | GERC Green Energy Open Access (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2026, Reg. 17.6 |
| Additional surcharge | ₹0.76/kWh | ₹0.99/kWh | 1 Oct 2026 | GERC Order No. 05 of 2026, dated 10 Sep 2026 |
The banking rate of ₹1.00 applies until 31 March 2027. After that, the regulations provide for a computed charge with a floor of ₹0.50 and a ceiling of ₹1.50 per unit. The additional surcharge of ₹0.99 also runs to 31 March 2027, when GERC will set the next half-yearly value.
Earlier in the year, GETCO's transmission charge moved from ₹3,918.01 to ₹3,858.96 per MW per day for FY 2026-27, as set in its multi-year tariff order. That is a reduction of 1.5%, worth about one paisa per unit for a solar buyer.
What it means for a typical buyer
Consider the same 11 kV factory we use elsewhere: 6 lakh units a month, 40% from open-access solar, about 15% of that solar energy banked.
| Landed cost, third-party PPA (₹/unit) | Apr–Aug | September | From October |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landed cost | 7.33 | 7.26 | 7.49 |
- Banking cut: every model saves ₹0.50 on each banked unit. That is about ₹2.2 lakh a year for this factory, whether it buys under a PPA or as a captive user.
- Additional surcharge rise: third-party buyers pay ₹0.23 more on every unit, about ₹6.6 lakh a year here. Captive users don't pay additional surcharge, so they are unaffected.
- Net effect: a third-party PPA buyer is about ₹4.5 lakh a year worse off than in August. A captive buyer is ₹2.2 lakh a year better off.
The gap between the two models therefore widened again this autumn. For this factory, a third-party solar PPA at ₹3.50 now costs more than its ₹6.75 grid energy charge, while group captive saves about ₹45 lakh a year. See our comparison of the models.
Also this season: a new grid emission factor
The Central Electricity Authority's CO2 Baseline Database, version 22.0, puts India's weighted-average grid emission factor at 0.675 tCO2/MWh for FY 2025-26, down from 0.710 in version 21.0 and 0.727 in version 20.0. Companies reporting avoided emissions from renewable purchases should update the factor. For the factory above, the same green power now counts as about 1,944 tonnes of CO2 avoided a year, rather than 2,094 on the older figure.
What to do now
- Negotiating a third-party PPA? Make sure the developer's savings estimate uses ₹0.99, not ₹0.76, for additional surcharge, and allows for the reset in April 2027.
- Already captive? Your banked energy is cheaper until March 2027. Check whether a larger plant or more banking now makes sense within your contract demand.
- Undecided? Run both models on today's charges in the calculator, or subscribe to the weekly Regulatory Watch to see the next change as soon as it is ordered.
Method: ClimeQuant engine, with each charge picked by its effective date. Factory: DGVCL, 11 kV, 3,000 kVA, 6 lakh units/month, ₹6.75/unit grid energy charge, 40% solar at 20% capacity utilisation, ₹3.50/unit PPA tariff. Indicative only.