UPERC Green Energy Open Access: Wheeling & Banking Charges
For factories and large commercial loads that can't fit enough rooftop solar, UP's Captive and Renewable Energy Regulations govern buying solar power off-site.
Short answer: UPERC's Captive and Renewable Energy (CRE) Generating Plants Regulations, 2024, in force from April 2024 through March 2029, govern how industrial and commercial consumers with loads above 100 kW can procure solar power from an off-site plant rather than only their own rooftop. Standard charges include a wheeling charge of roughly ₹1.012/kWh and an intra-state transmission charge of roughly ₹0.268/kWh, with an 8% energy-based charge applied to banked (stored-for-later) solar units. Larger solar projects above 5 MW get wheeling/transmission exemptions on DISCOM sales.
Who this is actually for
Rooftop net metering, covered in our other guides, works well when your available roof area can physically support enough capacity to meaningfully offset your load. For larger factories, cold storage units, or commercial complexes where the roof simply isn't big enough, "open access" is the alternative: procuring solar power from a third-party generating plant elsewhere in the state, delivered to you through the grid. This is a fundamentally different commercial and regulatory arrangement from rooftop net metering, governed by its own set of UPERC regulations.
The framework: CRE Regulations 2024
UPERC notified the Captive and Renewable Energy Generating Plants Regulations in April 2024, replacing the earlier 2019 framework, and it runs through March 2029. It applies to consumers with loads above 100 kW who want to draw power from a captive or third-party renewable plant instead of, or alongside, their DISCOM connection.
What the charges actually are
- Wheeling charge: approximately ₹1.012 per kWh, the cost of using the DISCOM's distribution network to move the power to you.
- Intra-state transmission charge: approximately ₹0.268 per kWh.
- Banking charge: an 8% charge, taken in energy terms, applied to solar/wind units you bank (store as credit) for later withdrawal, capped monthly at the higher of 25% of injected energy or 30% of your DISCOM consumption. Banked energy can generally only be withdrawn during the same time-of-day band it was injected in.
- Large-project exemptions: solar projects above 5 MW capacity get a 100% exemption from wheeling and transmission charges on power sold to the DISCOM, and a 50% exemption on captive or third-party sales.
These figures are drawn from the current regulatory framework but are exactly the kind of numbers that get revised, confirm current rates against the latest UPERC order before finalizing a commercial open-access agreement.
How this differs from what we install
Our core business is on-site rooftop and ground-mount installation with net metering, covered across our other guides. Open access is a separate procurement route for loads that genuinely can't be served by on-site generation alone. If you're a larger commercial or industrial consumer trying to figure out whether your load is better served by maximizing on-site rooftop capacity, open access, or a mix of both, that's worth a proper conversation rather than a generic answer.
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