Firozabad glass units get a gas quota at one price and pay another price above it: what should I record from the gas bill?
The Firozabad profile says each glass unit with a pot or tank furnace has a gas quota at an administered price, and gas above the quota is charged at the higher price of re-gasified liquefied natural gas. Record quota gas and extra gas separately each month, since a saving first removes the dearer gas.
What the profile says, in plain words
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) profile of Firozabad says the cluster gets natural gas by pipe from GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited). Each glass unit with a pot furnace or a tank furnace has been given a gas quota, a set quantity of gas. The quota is priced under the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM), which is a price fixed by the government rather than by the market. That is the usual meaning of the term, not something the profile spells out.
Gas a unit uses over its quota is charged at the price of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG), which the profile says is higher than the APM price. RLNG is gas that was cooled to a liquid so it could be shipped, and turned back into gas.
The profile says RLNG costs more than APM gas but prints no usable price, so take both prices from your own bills.
Why the split matters
- For carbon, both are the same gas. My reading is that one factor per standard cubic metre (scm) applies to the total on the bill, unless your supplier's sheet gives a different heat value. The split changes the cost, not the carbon.
- For savings, a unit that goes over its quota is paying the dearer price for its last cubic metres. A saving from a better furnace comes off that extra gas first. That is my reasoning, and it holds only in months when the unit is over quota.
- For a lender, a payback sum on a furnace upgrade should use the price of the gas that is actually saved.
What else sits on the gas meter
The profile says units use grid electricity, which is generally negligible, and also generate power in house using natural gas. So a unit's gas bill may include gas that makes electricity as well as gas that melts glass. If you can, read them on separate meters, or note the generator's hours and rating.
What to record each month
- Total scm on the bill.
- Quota scm, and scm above quota, with the price of each.
- Gas for the furnaces, and for the generator if separate.
- Tonnes of good glass drawn.
- Gas for each tonne, from furnace gas and tonnes, so the quota split does not hide a change in efficiency.
A saving, valued two ways, example numbers
- A month: 1,560,000 scm used, quota 1,300,000, so 260,000 scm above quota (examples)
- Carbon dioxide at 2.05 kg a scm: 3,198,000 kg, about 3,198 tonnes, for the whole 1,560,000 scm
- A furnace upgrade saves 5%: 78,000 scm, less than the 260,000 above quota, so all of it comes off the dearer gas
- At an example RLNG price of rupees (Rs) 45 a scm: 78,000 x 45 = Rs 35.1 lakh a month
- At an example quota price of Rs 30: Rs 23.4 lakh a month
Both prices are examples, not Firozabad prices. A lakh is 100,000. Use your own bill's prices and quota.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so gas quantities by month are on file. It does not read quota terms or price splits unless they appear as lines on the invoice, and it does not set your quota.
- Firozabad cluster gas use and carbon
- Firozabad glass unit gas evidence for buyers
- Firozabad tank furnace gas against melt rate
- Green loan readiness check
Sources: TERI, Cluster profile: Firozabad glass industries (SAMEEEKSHA), IPCC, 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 2 Energy
Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Quota and pricing wording is from the 2015 TERI profile for Firozabad, section on the energy scenario. Quotas and gas prices change; check your supplier's current terms.