Maharashtra Electricity
Regulatory Commission
has renewed the licence of
Reliance Infrastructure Ltd for
transmission and distribution of
power in suburban Mumbai for a 25-
year period. The licence will be valid
up to August 15, 2036.
In its order, MERC said, "The
commission is of the view
that it is in the public
interest to grant licence to
RInfra to distribute
electricity in the proposed
area of supply. The
commission grants
distribution licence to
RInfra to supply electricity
in the proposed area of
supply for 25 years from
August 16."
RInfra was selected from amongst
other bidders MSEDCL, Lanco,
Torrent Power and Indiabulls Power.
MERC had to reject the bids of the
other contenders as they did not have
their own distribution network in
suburban Mumbai.
RInfra that has around 27 lakh
connections in suburban Mumbai
will now also distribute power to
Chene and Versova areas falling
under the Mira-Bhayandar
Municipal Corporation. This,
according to reports, is to meet the
licence criteria of encompassing a
municipal corporation or a revenue
district as a whole.
Futile bidding: Industry
experts feel that MERC's
calling for expressions of
interest was a futile exercise,
costing
20 lakh to the public
exchequer. When MERC
called for expressions of
interest, the crucial precondition
of owing a power
distribution network did not
feature, it is alleged. The condition
was revealed only during the bidding
hearing. Nobody else would have bid
for the licence had the pre-condition
be known upfront, industry experts
said. There are reports of disqualified
contenders slamming MERC on the
development.