Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India has published an official notice regarding invoicing of Renewable Energy (RE) supplied by Renewable Energy Generating Stations in view of the situation prevailing due to the second wave of COVID-19.
As a measure of relief to the RE project, MNRE has decided that from April 1, 2021, the requirement of submission of physical hard copies is waived off and the implementing agencies will accept soft copies of invoices. The official notice quotes that this decision is for RE projects implemented through MNRE designated implementing agencies.
The Ministry has been receiving representations seeking relief on grounds of resurging Covid 19 cases which lead many States and Union territories of the country to issue instructions on restriction activities. MNRE has been carefully examining such representations. It noted that since April 2021, several State and Union Territories instructed measures such as the imposition of section 144, night curfew, weekend lockdown and more, which may have affected invoicing.
The official notice stated that the arrangement will continue for a period that will be decided on the basis of Covid 19 related developments that will take place in the upcoming weeks.
Normal invoicing will resume after this period and RE power projects will have to submit hard copies of invoices of this period within 15 days of the last date of such notice.
During this period, soft copies of invoices based upon the self meter readings by RE power generators substantiated by photographs of the meter reading or downloaded meter data may be accepted in cases where the signing of Joint Meter Reading (JMR) is difficult.
In case, such self-meter reading is also not possible then the implementing agencies can choose to pay based on the invoice for the same month of the last year or invoice for the last month. This will subject to subsequent truing up on actual meter reading. Click here to check more details on Invoicing of RE Supplied by RE Generating Stations in View of the Situation Prevailing Due to the Second Wave of COVID-19.
