While exercising the powers to Relax under Regulation 21 of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Procedure, Terms, and Conditions for grant of Transmission Licence and other related matters) Regulations, 2024, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), New Delhi, has granted the transmission licence to the Petitioner company (Angul Sundargarh Transmission Limited) as a special case, to prevent stranded power, despite the project’s unique nature as a dedicated line.
As far as adoption of an annual transmission charge of Rs. 431.11 million, discovered through competitive bidding, is concerned, the Commission directed that the entire transmission charges for the instant transmission system shall be borne and paid solely by the generating station. It was also cautioned that the Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL) shall raise the monthly bills on the generating station post-COD of the instant transmission line and reimburse the transmission charges to the Petitioner. In the event of non-payment of transmission charges by the generating station, it shall be liable to regulatory action under Regulation 21 of the 2022 Sharing Regulations.
At the same time, the Commission held that the grant of the transmission licence to the Petitioner is subject to the fulfilment of specific conditions throughout the period of the licence, including that the licence shall remain in force for a period of 25 years from the date of issue, the licensee shall not engage in the business of trading in electricity, the licensee shall provide non-discriminatory open access to its Transmission System, and the licensee shall pay the license fee in accordance with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Payment of Fees) Regulations, 2012.
The Coram comprising Jishnu Barua (Chairperson), Ramesh Babu V. (Member), Harish Dudani (Member) and Ravinder Singh Dhillon (Member) observed that the instant transmission scheme for evacuating power from the NLC Talabira Generation Station, being a Dedicated Transmission Line, ought to be established by NLC Talabira TPP, and in such a case, there was no requirement to grant a transmission licence.
However, considering that the bidding process under Section 63 of the Electricity Act has already been completed and the Transmission Service Agreement (TSA) has been signed, the Commission proposed granting the transmission licence to the Petitioner to ensure the timely availability of the transmission system for the evacuation of power from the generating station.
The Commission further observed that the transmission charges for the instant scheme shall be recovered from the generating station, i.e., NLC Talabira, to which no objections or suggestions have been filed by any party. The Commission found that the Petitioner company meets the requirements of the Act and the Transmission Licence Regulations, 2024, for the grant of a transmission licence for the subject Transmission System.
Briefly, the Petitioner, Angul Sundargarh Transmission Limited, filed a Petition for the grant of a transmission licence under Sections 14, 15 and 79(1)(e) of the Electricity Act, 2003 read with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Procedure, Terms, and Conditions for grant of Transmission Licence and other related matters) Regulations, 2024. The licence was sought to establish the Inter-State transmission system for the “Eastern Region Generation Scheme-I (ERGS-I)” on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer Basis.
Based on the competitive bidding carried out by the PFC Consulting Limited in its capacity as the Bid Process Coordinator in accordance with the Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Power under Section 63 of the Act, H.G. Infra Engineering Limited was declared a successful bidder with the lowest quoted annual transmission charges of Rs. 431.11 million per annum.
The successful bidder acquired 100% equity share of the Special Purpose Vehicle (Angul Sundargarh Transmission Limited) from PFCCL on July 28, 2025 and filed the Petition for the grant of a transmission licence within five working days on Aug 4, 2025. A public notice under Sub-section (5) of Section 15 of the Act was published in all editions of the Times of India (English) and Dainik Jagran (Hindi) on Feb 19, 2026, and no suggestions or objections were received from members of the public or any stakeholders.
Appearances:
For ASTL: Advocates Ankit Konwar, Yashodhara Burmon Roy and Prateek Singh.
