AN URGENT APPEAL TO ALL ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS AND SOLAR PROSUMERS OF MAHARASHTRA

The green energy transition of Maharashtra is under immediate threat.

The recent post-remand order passed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission under Case No 75 of 2025 has implemented a series of regressive measures that severely penalise clean energy adopters and drive up operational inflation across the state.

From residential housing societies to MSMEs and large manufacturing units, every single category of electricity user is facing an unprecedented financial and operational crisis.

First, there is a tax on private self-generation. Having crossed the state’s five thousand megawatt rooftop solar limit, a mandatory Grid Support Charge of ₹1.96 per unit for LT and ₹1.42 per unit for HT is now being levied on gross generation. You are now being taxed for electricity generated by your own private panels, consumed entirely behind your own meter, without it ever touching the utility wires.

Second, the same-slot banking deadlock is causing immense friction. Solar power banked between 09:00 and 17:00 hours can now only be drawn back during those exact same daylight hours. Housing societies and commercial setups that generate power by day can no longer use it to balance their heavy evening loads, rendering daytime solar surplus virtually worthless for night balancing.

Third, we see the eradication of nighttime rebates. The historical ten per cent or ₹0.80 per unit Time of Day nighttime incentive for industries has been completely deleted, instantly spiking operational expenses for continuous-process factories and spinning mills.

Fourth, arbitrary reclassifications are hurting businesses. Reverting the hospitality and hotel sector back to the highest commercial tariff tier removes baseline regional viability, adding a severe upfront working capital strain on state tourism.

We cannot allow these policy hurdles to undo years of sustainable progress and force industrial migration to neighbouring states.

We urge every resident, factory owner, commercial operator, and housing society representative to sign this unified petition to seek an immediate structural amendment to the order.

THE PETITION

To,
Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon'ble Chief Minister and Minister for Energy, Government of Maharashtra

Shri Eknath Shinde, Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra

Smt Sunetra Pawar, Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra

Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, Hon'ble Union Minister of Power, Government of India

Shri Jishnu Barua, Hon'ble Chairperson, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC)

Subject: Petition for Executive and Regulatory Intervention to Amend the Restrictive Tariff and Solar Banking Mandates in MERC Case No 75 of 2025

We, the undersigned citizens, industrial choice-makers, and renewable energy prosumers of Maharashtra, draw your immediate attention to the severe economic distress caused by the finalized review order in Case No 75 of 2025. By shifting the baseline metrics of clean energy accounting, the current regulatory framework directly compromises the financial survival of early green adopters and harms the industrial competitiveness of Maharashtra.

Layering gross grid support penalties on top of standard wheeling fees eliminates the financial justification for rooftop solar installations above 10 kW.

Furthermore, eliminating off-peak nighttime rebates and restricting solar banking to identical time slots forces a severe generation-consumption mismatch, penalizing even civic bodies running nighttime street lighting networks via daytime solar infrastructure.

Our Definitive Demands:
 1. Restrict Grid Support Charges to Net Export Only: The Grid Support Charge must strictly apply only to surplus units exported to the utility grid. In-premises generation consumed directly behind the boundary meter must remain entirely untaxed.

 2. Full Grandfathering of Legacy Assets: All grid-connected solar installations commissioned prior to April 2026 must be explicitly exempted from the new Grid Support Charge trajectory to maintain long-term investor and banking trust.

 3. Exemption from Slot-Wise Banking for Essential Sectors: Residential housing societies, public water works, educational campuses, and street lighting frameworks must be exempted from same-slot banking limits, allowing daylight generation to freely balance night-time consumption.

 4. Restoration of Night-Hour ToD Rebates: Bring back the ten per cent off-peak night rebate to secure the structural viability of continuous-process MSMEs and manufacturing units.

 5. Direct Industrial Tier for Hospitality: Restructure the framework to retain verified industrial-status hotels within the industrial tariff tier directly, bypassing the complex and delayed upfront commercial billing and subsequent state refund mechanism.

 6. Expedite Open P2P Trading Regulations: Immediately operationalize Peer-to-Peer energy trading guidelines to allow prosumers with trapped daytime surplus to trade power directly with adjacent daytime-heavy commercial consumers over local distribution wires.

We request your urgent joint intervention to protect the economic future of Maharashtra and ensure that the transition to sustainable power remains viable, transparent, and fair.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION