Open Access

Open access separates the sale of electricity from ownership of the wires. A qualifying consumer contracts directly with an independent generator and pays the distribution utility regulated charges — wheeling, cross-subsidy surcharge, additional surcharge and losses — for transporting it. India's Green Open Access Rules lowered the eligibility threshold to 100 kW for renewable power, opening the mechanism to mid-sized commercial and industrial buyers rather than only heavy industry. It is the primary route by which Indian corporates procure renewable energy at scale, and the economics turn almost entirely on the surcharge regime, which state commissions set and periodically revise. Because those charges are the utility's compensation for losing a paying customer, open access sits in permanent tension with distribution company finances.