Will a heat pump push you over your sanctioned load?
Replacing fuel with electricity raises a factory’s contract demand, and in Maharashtra and Gujarat that triggers charges most heat pump quotations leave out. A heat pump adds electrical load equal to its thermal duty divided by its coefficient of performance. So the first question is whether your existing sanctioned load already has the headroom.
If it does not, your DISCOM’s schedule of charges applies for the enhancement. In Maharashtra, that is MSEDCL’s published Schedule of Charges. Your security deposit is also recalculated. Maharashtra sets it at twice the average billing cycle. Gujarat computes it as though the entire load were a new connection.
We put these as explicit line items in the proposal, so none of them arrives first in a bill.
Regulatory figures on this page are as of 15 September 2026.
How much electrical load does a heat pump actually add?
The added load is the thermal duty divided by the coefficient of performance at your output temperature.
Take a 500 kW thermal duty. At COP 3.5, the electrical draw is 500 divided by 3.5, which is about 143 kW. That COP is plausible on a 60 to 70°C hot water duty. At COP 2.0, which is what measured Indian performance gives at 120°C output, the same duty draws 250 kW. Independent measurement puts performance at about 2.26 at 110°C output and about 2.0 at 120°C, so the gap between those two numbers is not theoretical.
Two things follow.
Size the connection on the conservative COP. A brochure figure quoted at a favourable operating point will undersize the electrical work, and undersized electrical work is discovered at commissioning. Use the number at your own source and output temperatures. If you do not have it, use the lower end.
The source you pick changes the answer. A water source or waste heat source shortens the lift between source and output, which raises the COP, which reduces the incremental kVA. So finding a warm stream on site also decides the connection size. The air source, water source and cascade configurations suit different lifts. There is more on that in how the cycle works and on the specification page.
One correction applies before you size anything. The boiler being replaced was not electrically free. Feedwater pumps, forced and induced draught fans, fuel handling, burner controls and instrumentation all drew power. So the net increment to your maximum demand is smaller than the heat pump’s own draw. A correct calculation nets the old load off before sizing the new one.
Do you already have the headroom?
For many plants the headroom is already there, and none of the charges below apply.
Contract demand is usually set once, at a moment when the plant had a load it may no longer have. A line was reconfigured, a furnace was retired, a shift pattern changed. The sanction stayed where it was because nobody had a reason to revisit it.
Here is the check, and it takes an hour with twelve months of bills.
- Pull twelve months of electricity bills. Use the bills themselves, not a finance system summary.
- Find the recorded maximum demand line on each one. It is billed in kVA on an HT connection. It is the highest half-hourly or fifteen-minute demand the meter saw that month.
- Find your sanctioned or contract demand, also in kVA, printed on the same bill.
- Take the highest recorded maximum demand across the twelve months. The worst month decides it.
- Subtract it from the sanction. That difference is your headroom, in kVA.
- Compare it against the heat pump’s incremental draw. Convert that draw from kW to kVA at your plant’s power factor. Use the figure net of the boiler auxiliaries coming off.
If the headroom covers the increment, there is no enhancement, no application and no connection charge. The rest of this page is then background.
Read the two numbers in the same units. The sanction is in kVA, and the heat pump’s draw will be quoted in kW. The two differ by your power factor, which is the subject of a section below. A plant running 0.85 power factor needs about 18% more kVA than the kW figure suggests.
What does an enhancement cost in Maharashtra?
These are the charges that apply when the headroom is not there. They are the MSEDCL Schedule of Charges, effective 1 April 2023, with GST extra. Other states publish their own schedules.
| Item | Charge | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Application and processing, HT up to 33 kV | ₹2,660 | The annexure names load enhancement explicitly, so this is the row that applies to a straightforward increase |
| Application and processing, three phase LT | ₹170 | For a plant on an LT supply |
| Service connection, HT 11 kV to 1,000 kVA, overhead | ₹2,38,110 | Where a new service connection is required |
| Service connection, HT 11 kV to 1,000 kVA, underground | ₹2,73,820 | Where the route must go underground |
| Service connection, HT 33 kV to 20,000 kVA, overhead | ₹3,98,290 | Larger loads at the higher voltage |
| Metering cubicle with CT and PT, 11 kV | ₹91,500 | Where new metering is needed |
An open question. It is not settled whether MSEDCL re-levies the full service connection charge on a load enhancement within the same voltage level. The application charge and the deposit revision are certain. The connection charge depends on whether the licensee treats the enhancement as a new service. That is a question for your circle office, in writing, before the capital request goes in. The difference between ₹2,660 and ₹2,38,110 is large enough to be worth the phone call.
The penalty for exceeding demand. Exceeding sanctioned demand attracts a penal rate on the excess. Published summaries quote two different multipliers for MSEDCL. Read the rate in the tariff schedule for your connection.
What happens to the security deposit?
Few plants model this, and it arrives a year late.
Maharashtra sets security at twice the average billing cycle, and recalculates it annually. So the deposit follows the bill. A heat pump that raises the monthly bill by ₹6 lakh triggers roughly ₹12 lakh of additional deposit at the next recalculation. That is not a project cost in the year of installation, so it gets left out. It lands in the following financial year, against a budget that has already closed.
Substituting your own figure is simple. Estimate the monthly increase in your electricity bill from the heat pump, and double it. That is roughly the additional deposit to expect at the next annual recalculation.
Gujarat is harsher, and a Gujarat buyer sizing the deposit from a Maharashtra example will get it badly wrong. Where additional demand is sanctioned, the deposit is computed as if it were a new service for the entire load, not for the increment. A plant with a large existing load and a modest heat pump addition can therefore face a deposit computed across everything.
| Maharashtra, MERC | Gujarat, GERC | |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of computation | Twice the average billing cycle | As though a new service connection |
| Applies to | The revised bill, so effectively the increment | The entire sanctioned load |
| Recalculation | Annually | On sanction of additional demand |
| Practical effect | Proportionate to the increase | Can be far larger than the increase |
For a plant in Gujarat, this single row is usually the largest unbudgeted number in the project. It belongs in the capital request.
How long does the DISCOM take?
MERC Supply Code Regulation 5 requires the licensee to “endeavour” to release a connection within a set period. The period is 7 working days where no right of way is required, and 15 working days where it is.
The word is “endeavour”, which makes it a soft target. A plant may schedule commissioning around 15 working days and then wait longer. That plant will then blame the heat pump for a delay that sits in the application process.
Regulation 6.5 carries the consequence buyers do not anticipate. Where a distribution transformer is needed on site, the consumer must provide land or a room on lease for it. That is a site-planning decision for the projects head. It can take longer than anything electrical.
So start the DISCOM application in parallel with manufacture. The two timelines are independent and only one of them is under your control. A plant that treats the application as a commissioning task has chosen to serialise two things that could have run together.
Does adding a compressor make my power factor worse?
It can, and in Maharashtra it costs you directly.
Maharashtra moved HT consumers to kVAh billing in 2020. Under kVAh you are billed on apparent energy, not real energy. A poor power factor is then no longer a penalty line that can be argued about. It is more billed units every month.
About a quarter of consumers above 200 kVA run power factor below 0.90, and under 0.5% actively manage it. So the typical plant adding a large compressor is adding it to an existing problem that nobody is watching.
There is an opportunity inside that. Automatic power factor correction sized alongside the heat pump addresses both the new load and the existing deficiency. On a plant with mediocre power factor, the resulting reduction in billed kVAh can pay for part of the installation. It also reduces the kVA the new load presents, which feeds straight back into the headroom check above.
Raise it with your electrical team at design stage. It is cheap to include in the project and expensive to retrofit after the first bill.
What belongs in the proposal
A heat pump proposal should carry these nine lines. Hold every vendor to this table, including us.
| Line item | Who produces the number | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Incremental electrical load, in kW and kVA, at the design COP | Supplier | Thermal duty divided by the COP at your stated output temperature |
| Net increment after boiler auxiliaries come off | Supplier, with plant input | Existing boiler’s pump, fan and controls load |
| Headroom evidence | Plant | Twelve months of bills, highest recorded maximum demand against sanction |
| Enhancement application and processing charge | Supplier | MSEDCL Schedule of Charges, or your state’s equivalent |
| Service connection charge, if applicable | Supplier, confirmed with the circle office | The same schedule, subject to the recharge question above |
| Metering charge, if applicable | Supplier | The same schedule |
| Incremental security deposit | Plant finance | Your state’s rule, applied to the estimated bill increase |
| DISCOM application timeline against the manufacturing timeline | Supplier and plant together | Regulation 5, treated as a soft target |
| Automatic power factor correction scope | Supplier and plant electrical | Present power factor, and the new load’s contribution |
An energy manager who forwards that table to a promoter has a complete picture. One who forwards a quotation without it will be asked for it later, usually by finance, usually after the order.
How to use this
Do the headroom check first. It is free, it takes an hour, and for a good share of plants it ends the question.
If an enhancement is needed, price the four items that apply. They are the application charge, any connection and metering charge, the incremental deposit under your state’s rule, and the power factor correction. Put them in the capital request as line items, so that none of them is discovered later.
The heat load that drives all of this is worked in full in the sizing guide. These charges belong in the capital line of the return on investment method. The electrical and controls scope of a tie-in is covered under integration, and the calculator will put a running cost against the duty. When you have your twelve months of bills and your duty list, send them to us.
Frequently asked questions
- How much electrical load does an industrial heat pump add?
- It adds its thermal duty divided by the coefficient of performance it holds at your output temperature. A 500 kW thermal duty at COP 3.5 draws about 143 kW. The same duty at COP 2.0, which is what a 120°C output gives, draws 250 kW. Size the connection on the conservative figure for your actual output temperature, never on a headline COP.
- Do I need to increase my sanctioned load for a heat pump?
- Often you do not. Contract demand is frequently set for a peak that no longer occurs, so the headroom is already there. Read twelve months of your own bills, compare recorded maximum demand against sanctioned demand, and subtract. Only if the incremental draw exceeds that gap does an enhancement apply.
- What does a load enhancement cost in Maharashtra?
- Application and processing for an HT load change up to 33 kV costs ₹2,660 under the MSEDCL Schedule of Charges, with GST extra. The schedule took effect on 1 April 2023, and its annexure names load enhancement explicitly. Where a new service connection is needed, an HT 11 kV connection to 1,000 kVA is ₹2,38,110 overhead or ₹2,73,820 underground. An 11 kV metering cubicle with CT and PT is ₹91,500.
- What happens to my security deposit?
- It is recalculated. Maharashtra sets security at twice the average billing cycle and recalculates it annually. A heat pump that raises the monthly bill by ₹6 lakh therefore triggers roughly ₹12 lakh of additional deposit at the next recalculation. Gujarat is harsher. Where additional demand is sanctioned, the deposit is computed as if the entire load were a new service, not just the increment.
- Does adding a heat pump compressor make my power factor worse?
- It can, and in Maharashtra that costs money directly because HT consumers moved to kVAh billing in 2020. About a quarter of consumers above 200 kVA already run power factor below 0.90, and under 0.5 percent actively manage it. Sizing automatic power factor correction alongside the heat pump can pay for part of the installation.