Regulatory loopholes may end up favouring bigger players: Experts

Alongside a draft proposal to streamline the regulatory framework for the country’s power transmission, new connectivity regulations released by the electricity regulator CERC are being red-flagged by market players.

The regulatory framework — called General Network Access (GNA) regulations — seeks to do away with pre-determined point-to-point transmission access to instead enable both access or drawal on the entire transmission corridor in a way that it provides generators and procurers the flexibility of both injection and drawal.

While the new framework is being seen as a quantum leap in tiding over the problem of transmission constraints and fostering open access to help develop a seamlessly integrated electricity market, experts say there are loopholes in the accompanying connectivity regulations issued subsequently by the regulator.