The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) has issued a draft tariff order proposing new generic levelised tariffs for electricity generated from selected renewable energy sources for the financial year 2025–26, reports MERCOM.
Under the proposal, biomass gasifier-based power projects have been assigned a tariff of about ₹9.49 per unit, up from ₹9.12 in the previous year. Bagasse-based cogeneration projects have been offered a tariff of around ₹7.77 per unit, compared with ₹7.40 in FY 2024–25. For cogeneration projects using biomass other than bagasse, the proposed tariff is about ₹8.47 per unit, higher than last year’s ₹8.09.
Tariffs for municipal solid waste-based projects using Rankine cycle technology have been slightly reduced to around ₹6.46 per unit from ₹6.51 in the previous year. Refuse-derived fuel-based projects have been proposed a tariff of about ₹9.22 per unit, marginally higher than ₹9.13 earlier.
BERC has proposed lower tariffs for projects that avail of accelerated depreciation benefits under the Income Tax Act. Stakeholders have been invited to submit their comments, suggestions and objections on the draft order by January 19, 2026.
The commission said the generic tariffs finalised for FY 2025–26 will apply to renewable energy projects commissioned up to March 31, 2026. These tariffs will also continue to apply to projects commissioned after that date until a revised tariff order is issued.
As per the draft, a standard debt-equity ratio of 70:30 has been considered for all eligible projects. The interest rate on loans has been fixed at 10.80 percent, slightly higher than the 10.7 percent used in the previous year’s calculations. The post-tax return on equity has been set at 16.96 percent for the first 20 years of operation and 21.52 percent for the remaining tariff period, compared with lower rates in the earlier order.
A discount rate of 9.11 percent has been applied for tariff calculation, while depreciation has been allowed at 4.67 percent in the initial years, with the remaining amount spread over the useful life of the projects. Operation and maintenance costs are proposed to rise annually by 3.84 percent.
The plant load factor has been fixed at 80 percent for biomass power projects and 85 percent for biomass gasifier projects. Cogeneration projects have been assigned a lower plant load factor of 53 percent to reflect their operating conditions.
Fuel prices for FY 2025–26 have been set at ₹4,472.72 per tonne for biomass, ₹2,859.32 per tonne for bagasse and ₹2,620.49 per tonne for refuse-derived fuel, with an assumed annual price increase of 3.45 percent. No fuel cost has been allowed for municipal solid waste-based projects, as waste has been treated as a zero-cost input.
The commission clarified that solar, wind, hybrid and energy storage-based renewable projects are not covered under this generic tariff order and will continue to be governed by project-specific tariff decisions.
Earlier this year, BERC had set a target of meeting 43.33 percent of Bihar’s total energy demand from renewable sources by the financial year 2030.
