Open Access Solar in Madhya Pradesh: Charges & Eligibility (FY2026-27)

What open access means, in one paragraph

Under the Electricity Act, 2003 an HT or EHT consumer may buy electricity from a generator other than the local DISCOM and use the DISCOM's wires to bring it in. The Ministry of Power's Green Energy Open Access Rules, 2022 lowered the threshold for renewable power to 100 kW of contracted demand, and Madhya Pradesh regulates the mechanics through the MPERC open access and banking regulations. In practice a third-party solar PPA in MP still needs roughly 1 MW of contracted demand at 33 kV or above to make commercial sense, for reasons that become obvious once the charges are listed.

The FY2026-27 charges, from the MPERC order

The MPERC Retail Supply Tariff Order for FY2026-27 fixes the open access charges that a Madhya Pradesh industrial consumer pays on every unit brought in from a third-party plant:

Charge	FY2026-27	Where it comes from
Wheeling charge	₹0.17/kWh at 33 kV ₹0.69/kWh at 11 kV	Order, Table 89 (p. 131). Not applied to EHT consumers connected above 33 kV.
Cross subsidy surcharge (CSS)	₹1.49/kWh for HV-3.1 industrial ₹0.90/kWh for HV-3.4 power intensive	Order, Table 96 (pp. 136–137); capped at 20% of average cost of supply.
Additional surcharge (AS)	₹1.18/kWh	Order, Section 3.40 (p. 139). Applies to third-party open access, not to captive.
Transmission charge	Set separately by MPPTCL	Depends on whether the plant connects to the state transmission network or directly to the DISCOM system.
Banking	Cap 30% of monthly consumption; 8% in-kind charge	MPERC banking SOP, August 2026 (see our banking explainer).

Add CSS and AS together and a third-party open access consumer at 33 kV carries about ₹2.67/kWh of regulatory charges before wheeling and transmission. That single fact decides most of the economics below.

What you pay the DISCOM today

The same order sets the HV-3.1 industrial energy charge at roughly ₹7.3–7.8 per unit up to 50% load factor and ₹6.35–6.80 per unit above it, depending on supply voltage, plus a fixed charge per kVA of billing demand, electricity duty and any fuel surcharge (Order, tariff schedule HV-3, p. 231). Two adjustments matter for a solar comparison:

ToD solar-hours rebate: 20% off the energy charge for consumption between 9:00 and 17:00 (pp. 249–250). Solar generation lands in exactly these hours, so the grid power you displace is your cheapest grid power, not your average.
Power factor incentive: 1% to 7% of energy charges for PF between 96% and 100% (p. 248). If you already earn this, keep it in the baseline.

The honest baseline is therefore not the headline ₹8, but your actual daytime landed cost after rebates, duty and surcharge. For most 33 kV plants we read, that number falls between ₹6.5 and ₹7.5 per unit.

A worked example at 33 kV

Line	Third-party PPA	Group captive
Solar tariff at plant	₹4.00	₹4.00
Wheeling (33 kV)	₹0.17	₹0.17
CSS	₹1.49	–
Additional surcharge	₹1.18	–
Transmission + losses (indicative)	₹0.30	₹0.30
Landed solar cost	₹7.14	₹4.47
Daytime grid cost after ToD rebate (indicative)	₹6.80–7.20	₹6.80–7.20
Saving per unit	roughly nil	₹2.3–2.7

This is why the phrase “open access saves 30–40%” needs qualifying in Madhya Pradesh. A plain third-party PPA at today's CSS and AS is close to break-even for a 33 kV HV-3.1 consumer; the saving appears when CSS and AS fall away under a captive structure, or when the consumer is HV-3.4 power intensive, or when the plant is EHT-connected and escapes wheeling. Which structure applies to you is covered in Third-party PPA vs group captive in MP.

Who qualifies

HT or EHT connection in Madhya Pradesh; 33 kV or above is the practical floor for third-party supply.
Contracted demand of about 1 MW or more for a third-party PPA. Below that, the fixed costs of metering, scheduling and SLDC compliance eat the margin.
Daytime load. Solar delivers 9:00–17:00; a single-shift plant with high daytime load fits, a plant that runs mostly at night does not, unless banking (30% cap) closes the gap.
No outstanding DISCOM dues, and a willingness to sign a 15–25 year PPA with a defined exit.

What we would tell you if it does not fit

About a third of the bills we read do not fit. Load below 500 kW, night-heavy shifts, or an 11 kV connection where the ₹0.69 wheeling charge alone absorbs the margin. In those cases the right answer is a rooftop or ground-mount captive plant behind your own meter, which is not what we build, and we will say so in writing.

Check your own numbers

Send your last 12 months of electricity bills on WhatsApp and we return a one-page reading with your true landed cost, your daytime share and the charges that apply to your voltage level, within 24 working hours: free bill reading. Or read how the process runs on the solar open access page.

Questions on this topic

What is the minimum load for open access solar in Madhya Pradesh?

The Green Energy Open Access Rules, 2022 set the national floor at 100 kW of contracted demand. In Madhya Pradesh a third-party solar PPA is commercially workable from about 1 MW at 33 kV or above; below that the regulatory charges and fixed costs remove the saving.

What are the open access charges in MP for FY2026-27?

Wheeling charge of Rs 0.17 per kWh at 33 kV and Rs 0.69 per kWh at 11 kV, cross subsidy surcharge of Rs 1.49 per kWh for HV-3.1 industrial consumers (Rs 0.90 for HV-3.4 power intensive), and additional surcharge of Rs 1.18 per kWh, per the MPERC Retail Supply Tariff Order for FY2026-27. Transmission charges are set separately by MPPTCL.

Does a third-party solar PPA save money for a 33 kV industry in MP?

At FY2026-27 charges a plain third-party PPA is close to break-even for an HV-3.1 consumer, because CSS and additional surcharge add about Rs 2.67 per kWh. Savings of Rs 2 to 3 per unit appear under a group captive structure, for HV-3.4 power intensive consumers, or for EHT-connected plants.

Open access solar in Madhya Pradesh: what it actually costs an industrial consumer in FY2026-27