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.