India's tech capital has some of the highest commercial electricity loads and some of the strongest sustainability mandates from global clients. Here is how BESCOM open access solar works for Electronic City, Whitefield, and Manyata Tech Park tenants in 2026.
Bengaluru's IT/ITES sector is one of the largest commercial electricity consumers in India, with major tech parks running 24×7 UPS-critical loads where uptime and cost predictability matter equally. BESCOM (Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company) commercial HT tariffs for large consumers run ₹7.50–₹9.00/unit in LT/HT categories. With global ESG reporting requirements mandating RE100 commitments for many MNCs, open access solar has moved from a "nice to have" to a board-level procurement priority.
Karnataka's open access threshold under KERC (Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission) regulations is 1 MW of connected load for short-term and long-term intra-state OA. Most individual large IT companies occupying an entire building or campus meet this. For smaller tenants in shared tech parks:
| Zone | BESCOM division | OA access type | Typical saving/unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic City (Phase 1 & 2) | South Division | HT OA or Group Captive | ₹2.00–₹3.00 |
| Whitefield / ITPL | East Division | HT OA for campus-level loads | ₹2.00–₹3.00 |
| Manyata Tech Park | North Division | Park-level aggregated OA | ₹1.80–₹2.80 |
| Outer Ring Road (Marathahalli) | Southeast Division | HT OA or rooftop + OA hybrid | ₹1.80–₹2.50 |
| Bagmane Tech Park | Central Division | HT OA (developer-arranged) | ₹1.80–₹2.50 |
Karnataka's CSS for commercial/ITES consumers is ₹1.20–₹1.80/unit — moderate by Indian standards. Combined with wheeling charges (₹0.55–₹0.70/unit), the total surcharge burden is manageable enough that open access delivers strong savings even before considering Group Captive CSS exemption. For large IT campuses above 5 MW, ISTS open access from Rajasthan is available and eliminates CSS entirely.
For MNCs in Bengaluru reporting to CDP, GRI, or BRSR frameworks, open access solar qualifies as Scope 2 contractual instrument renewable energy under the market-based accounting method — provided the PPA includes or is accompanied by a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) or I-REC transfer. Confirm this with your developer; not all open access arrangements automatically include REC bundling, but it can be added at low cost to satisfy sustainability auditors.
Most low-rise IT campus buildings in Electronic City and Whitefield have significant rooftop space. Karnataka net metering allows up to 1 MW per connection for rooftop solar. A hybrid approach — rooftop covering 20–40% of daytime load, open access covering the remainder — typically achieves the lowest blended cost and is fully compliant with BESCOM metering norms.