How does the time-of-day electricity tariff work for Indian factories?

Under a time of day (ToD) tariff, the rate per unit depends on when you use it: higher in peak hours, lower in solar hours, normal otherwise. Central rules from 2023 made ToD due from 1 April 2024 for commercial and industrial users above 10 kW maximum demand. Your state commission sets the hours and rates.

What the 2023 central rules require

• Who and when: the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2023, notified by the Ministry of Power on 14 June 2023, set 1 April 2024 as the latest start for commercial and industrial users whose maximum demand exceeds 10 kW, and 1 April 2025 for other users except farms. Smart-metered users move to ToD once the smart meter is in.
• Peak hours: the rate is not less than 1.20 times the normal rate for commercial and industrial users, and 1.10 times for everyone else. Peak hours cannot be longer than solar hours.
• Solar hours: eight hours a day, chosen by the state commission, billed at least 20% below the normal rate for your category.
• What it touches: the ToD rates apply to the energy charge only. Fixed or demand charges are not scaled by time block under these rules.

What your state tariff order decides

The central rules set floors and deadlines; the state electricity regulatory commission fills in the rest. Its tariff order names the peak and solar hour slots, the exact surcharge and rebate, and which categories are covered, and it usually changes at each yearly tariff revision. Rollout has been uneven: some commissions have kept older ToD schemes or deferred the solar hour rebate, and a draft amendment published by the Ministry of Power in March 2026 proposes 1 April 2027 as the new latest date for commercial and industrial users. Read the order in force for your billing month, and check powermin.gov.in for whether the 2026 draft has been notified.

How to read ToD on your bill

1. Find units by time block, usually labelled peak, normal and off-peak or solar hours. They should add up to total units.
2. Each block shows a surcharge or rebate, as a percentage of the energy rate or as rupees per unit.
3. The net ToD amount is added to or taken from the energy charge. Demand charges, power factor adjustment, fuel cost adjustment and duty sit on separate lines.

Does shifting load to solar hours cut your emissions?

Not in your reported Scope 2 today. Location-based Scope 2 in India uses one annual grid average, 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh from the CEA CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0, so a unit in peak hours and a unit at noon carry the same factor. Shifting load lowers your bill, and it can lower real grid emissions when midday power is mostly solar, but that shows only if a buyer or programme asks for hourly factors, which India does not publish officially.

Illustrative month: shifting 10,000 units from peak to solar hours

• Normal rate assumed at Rs 8.00 per kWh; peak at the 1.20 floor = Rs 9.60; solar hours at the 20% floor = Rs 6.40
• Use: 1,00,000 kWh, of which 30,000 peak, 30,000 normal, 40,000 solar hours
• Energy cost: 30,000 x 9.60 + 30,000 x 8.00 + 40,000 x 6.40 = 2,88,000 + 2,40,000 + 2,56,000 = Rs 7,84,000
• Move 10,000 kWh from peak to solar hours: saving 10,000 x (9.60 minus 6.40) = Rs 32,000 a month
• Location-based Scope 2 before and after: 1,00,000 x 0.710 = 71,000 kg CO2, unchanged

Rates are assumptions built from the central rule multipliers, not any state's tariff order. Use the slots and rebates in your own state commission's current order.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the billing details on an electricity bill (period, tariff category, sanctioned load, units) and applies the CEA grid factor of 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh to the kWh. It does not check ToD charges or model tariff savings.

• How to read an HT electricity bill
• Energy transition savings calculator
• Hourly grid emission factors for India
• Maximum demand charges and peak shaving

Sources: Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2023, Ministry of Power gazette notification of 14 June 2023 (powermin.gov.in), CEA CO2 Baseline Database

Last reviewed 2026-10-16. A March 2026 draft Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules would move the commercial and industrial ToD deadline to 1 April 2027; check whether it has been notified, and the state order in force for each billing month.