The announcement follows on from an unsuccessful attempt to source renewable power in November 2014 in order to meet their RPO targets. At this time BSES discoms had put forward a tender where the lowest bid received was at Rs 6.19 per unit and the average at Rs 6.4 per unit.  The company found the cost to be expensive and decided to instead request permission to procure both solar and non-solar power through ‘reverse auction’.

BSES believes this will enable them to procure ‘green’ power at more competitive rates. In an order dated December 29, 2015, DERC allowed BSES discoms to procure renewable power through this process in line with MNRE guidelines. 

“This will open a new avenue of procuring power at competitive rates from renewable sources,” stated a BSES spokesperson. “The whole process is ultimately going to help consumers in a getting a cleaner energy at competitive rates and keep the retail tariffs low”.