The Tariff Policy was notified by the Central Government on January 6, 2006 and was subsequently amended in 2008. The present amendment in para 6.4(1) of the Tariff Policy is as per the proposal of the National Solar Mission strategy (Implementation of the National Solar Mission) which was approved by the Cabinet in its Meeting held on November 19, 2009.

The Ministry of Power proposed to amend the Tariff Policy, 2006 to require the State Electricity Regulators to fix a percentage of energy purchase from solar power under the RPOs. The solar power purchase obligation for States may start with 0.25% in Phase I (by 2013) and go up to 3% by 2022 This will be complemented by solar specific Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) mechanism to allow solar power generation companies to sell certificates to the utilities to meet their solar power purchase obligations.

The amendment will come into effect from the date of its publication in the official gazette.