How Open Access Protects Industries from Tariff Hikes

Every year, without fail, the electricity bill goes up. For industries running factories, processing units or manufacturing plants, electricity isn’t a small expense — it’s one of the biggest operating costs. And every April, when the DISCOM announces a tariff hike, there’s nothing you can do but absorb it. Karnataka’s HT industrial tariff is ₹6.75 per unit this year. Assam’s is ₹9.29. Delhi commercial consumers pay up to ₹8.50. These numbers only move in one direction. What most industry owners don’t realize is that they also pay around ₹0.60 per unit extra as renewable energy charges — for renewable energy they’re not even receiving.

Open access changes that entirely. Instead of being locked into your DISCOM’s rates, open access allows industries with 100 kW and above contract demand to buy power directly from a renewable energy generator — a solar or wind farm — at a price they agree upon. The electricity travels through the same grid, the same wires, reaching you the same way. But the power is cleaner and significantly cheaper. No investment required, no plant to build or maintain. You simply pay monthly for the units you consume — at a lower rate than what your DISCOM charges.

The real protection comes from price stability. When you sign an open access power purchase agreement, your rate is locked for the contract period. While DISCOM tariffs climb every year, your energy cost stays predictable. Two factories side by side — one on DISCOM, one on open access solar — will show a widening cost gap every single year. That gap is margin. That gap is competitive advantage. That gap compounds over time into a significant business advantage that is very hard for competitors to close.

Yes, open access involves wheeling charges, transmission charges and cross subsidy surcharges. These are real costs and should be calculated carefully. But even after accounting for all charges, the landed cost of open access renewable power is typically 20 to 40 percent lower than DISCOM rates. The industries that make this switch early will carry a cost structure their competitors will struggle to match. The ones that wait will keep receiving the bill every month and wonder why their margins keep shrinking. The door is open — quite literally.