If a solar or wind project misses its commissioning date, does it keep the inter-state transmission system charge waiver?
It can, but only by a formal extension. Ministry of Power orders let the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy extend a scheduled date of 30 June 2025 for force majeure, transmission delay or government delay, six months at a time and not more than two times. The inter-state transmission system (ISTS) waiver period then moves with it.
What the 9 June 2023 order says
- It replaces paragraph 3.1(vii) of the 30 November 2021 order.
- A solar, wind or other eligible project with a scheduled date of commissioning on or before 30th June 2025 that is granted extension of time by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) after careful consideration gets the waiver as if it had been commissioned on or before 30th June 2025.
- The grounds are force majeure, delay on the part of the transmission provider in providing the transmission even after having taken the requisite steps in time, or delays on the part of any Government Agency. The plant must be commissioned before the extended date.
- Where such capacity gets an extension in commercial operation date from the competent authority, the commencement and the period of the long-term access (LTA) also get extended, and the period of ISTS waiver is deemed extended by the same period.
- An extension is granted for six months at a time and not more than 2 times.
The arithmetic of the two extensions
On our arithmetic, a scheduled date of 30 June 2025 plus two extensions of six months each reaches 30 June 2026 at the latest. That date is now past. On our reading, a plant that was not commissioned by an extended date on this route does not fall under it; another page on this site describes a separate March 2026 relief for transmission delays, which this order text does not contain.
The 29 May 2023 order adds that a project granted an extension in commercial operation date by the competent authority is not deprived of the waiver based on its original date, and it says competent authority rather than naming MNRE. The 9 June 2023 order names MNRE for the main extension and says competent authority in its proviso on the long-term access period. Ask which body granted your project's extension.
What to ask the developer
- The scheduled commissioning date in the power purchase agreement, and every extension letter with its date and granting body.
- Which of the three grounds the extension rests on.
- Who pays the transmission charge if the waiver is lost.
Dates for a project scheduled for 30 June 2025
- Scheduled date: 30 June 2025
- First extension of six months: to 31 December 2025
- Second and last extension of six months: to 30 June 2026
- If both extensions were granted by MNRE and the plant is commissioned on 15 May 2026, it is inside the extended date and treated as if commissioned on or before 30 June 2025
The project is an example. The six month block and the limit of two are the order's; the dates are our arithmetic.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads your electricity bills and fuel invoices into dated records, so the units on your bills are on file. It does not read transmission orders or tell you which waiver band a project falls in; that comes from the developer's commissioning date and extension letters.
- Is the transmission charge waiver still available?
- Transmission waiver orders by date
- Open access charges in India
- Emissions calculators
Sources: Ministry of Power, orders on waiver of inter-state transmission charges, 2020 to 2025 (compiled PDF)
Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Read from the Ministry of Power orders of 9 June 2023, 29 May 2023 and 30 November 2021 in the compiled PDF, on 6 November 2026. The order text for the 2026 relief was not available here, so only the 2023 rule is stated. The date arithmetic is ours.