Omnicore Weekly #259 - 15 May 2026

Dear Patrons & Readers, 

Petition under Section 63 of Electricity Act, 2003 seeking adoption of Transmission Charges of the “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE Projects in Morena SEZ in Madhya Pradesh- Phase I (2500 MW)” being established by the Petitioner.

Morena-I SEZ Transmission Limited

Versus

Central Transmission Utility of India Limited,  PFC Consultancy Limited,  Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company Limited,  Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited, & 27 Others

Background:

The Petitioner, Morena-I SEZ Transmission Limited, has filed the present Petition under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter “the Act”) for the adoption of transmission charges to establish the Inter-State Transmission System i.e., “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE Projects in Morena SEZ in Madhya Pradesh- Phase I (2500 MW)” (hereinafter referred to as 'Project’) on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer Basis (hereinafter referred to as “BOOT Basis”). The Petitioner has made the following prayers:

 a) Adopt the Transmission Charges of Rs. 1562.34 million per annum discovered through a transparent competitive bidding process pursuant to the RFP dated 03.04.2025, for “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE Projects in Morena SEZ in Madhya Pradesh- Phase I (2500 MW)”, comprising of the elements/ assets as detailed in the executed TSA;

(b) Allow the “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE Projects in Morena SEZ in Madhya Pradesh- Phase I (2500MW)” to be a part of the Inter-State Transmission Charges and direct that the recovery of transmission charges shall be in accordance with the terms of the Transmission Service Agreement executed between the parties and the CERC (Sharing of Inter-State Transmission Charges and losses) Regulations 2020 and its amendments;

(c) Condone any inadvertent errors omissions/ errors/ shortcomings and permit the Petitioner to add/ change/ modify/ alter these filings and make further submissions as may be required at a future date; and/or

(d) Pass any such other order/orders, as may be deemed fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.”

2. On receipt of the present Petition, the Bid Process Coordinator (hereinafter referred to as “the BPC”), PFC Consulting Limited (hereinafter referred to as “PFCCL”), vide letter dated 13.3.2026, was directed to submit the relevant documents regarding the complete process of the competitive bidding. The necessary details have been filed by the BPC under an affidavit dated 20.3.2026

Analysis and Decision

5. We have considered the submissions of the Petitioner, BPC, and CTUIL and perused the documents available on record. Section 63 of the Act provides as under: “Section 63: Determination of tariff by bidding process: Notwithstanding anything contained in section 62, the Appropriate Commission shall adopt the tariff if such tariff has been determined through transparent process of bidding in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central Government.”

6. The Ministry of Power, Government of India, has notified the “Tariff based Competitive bidding Guidelines for Transmission Service” and “Guidelines for Encouraging Competition in Development of Transmission Projects‟ (hereinafter referred to as “the Guidelines‟) under Section 63 of the Act vide Resolution No. 15/1/2017-Trans dated 10.8.2021, as amended from time to time. The salient features of the Guidelines are as under:

(a) The Guidelines are applicable for the procurement of transmission services for transmission of electricity through tariff based competitive bidding for selection of the Transmission Service Provider (TSP) for new transmission system on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis.

(b) For procurement of the transmission services required for any inter-State transmission Project, the Central Government shall notify the CTUIL or any Central Government Organization/ Central Public Sector Undertaking or its wholly owned subsidiary (Special Purpose Vehicle) to be the Bid Process Coordinator (BPC), who would be responsible for the coordinating the bid process.

(c) The BPC shall prepare the bid documents in accordance with the Guidelines and obtain approval of the Appropriate Government, or alternatively, the BPC can use the Standard Bid Documents notified by the Ministry of Power. Any material deviation from the Standard Bidding Documents shall be made only with the prior approval of the Appropriate Government. Intimation about initiation of the bidding process shall be sent by the BPC to the Appropriate Commission.

(d) For the procurement of the transmission services under the guidelines, BPC shall adopt a single stage two envelope tender process featuring Request for Proposal (RfP). The entire bidding process shall be conducted online through electronic medium under e-reverse bidding framework.

(e) The RfP notice should be published in at least two national newspapers, website of the BPC and preferably in trade magazines also, so as to accord it wide publicity. The bidding shall necessarily be by way of International Competitive Bidding (ICB). For the purpose of issue of RfP, minimum conditions to be met by the bidder shall be specified in the RfP.

(f) Standard documentation to be provided in the RfP shall include definitions of requirements including brief description of the Project, commissioning milestones to be achieved by the bidders, qualification requirements to be met by the bidders including, minimum net worth, etc. with necessary proof of the same, as outlined in the bid documents, Specified target dates/months for commissioning and commercial operations, Standard Transmission Service Agreement (TSA), agreement(s) under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Sharing of Inter State Transmission Charges and Losses) Regulations as amended from time to time, period of validity of offer of bidder, TSA proposed to be entered with the SPV including amendments, bid evaluation methodology to be adopted by the BPC, specification regarding bid bond as well as the Contract Performance Guarantee to be furnished by the bidders, proposed indemnification agreement between the TSP and the Nodal Agency, liquidated damages that shall apply in the event of delay in start of providing the transmission services and technical, operational and safety criteria to be met by the bidder/TSP and requirement of obtaining transmission licence from the Appropriate Commission.

(g) The TSP, on the date of acquisition of the SPV from the BPC will enter into a Transmission Service Agreement with the Nodal Agency.

(h) To ensure competitiveness, the minimum number of qualified bidders shall be two. For inter-State transmission system, bids shall be opened in the office of the CEA by a bid committee comprising of at least one member from CEA and one member from BPC. For inter-State transmission system, CEA shall constitute a committee for evaluation of the bids with at least one representative from the CEA and not less than two representatives from the concerned Regional Power Committees and one independent member. Further, in case project is inter-regional, there shall be at least one representative from every concerned RPC. The technical bids shall be examined to ensure that the bids submitted meet minimum eligibility criteria set out in the bid documents on all the technical evaluation parameters. Only the bids that meet all elements of the minimum technical criteria set out in the bid documents shall be considered for further evaluation on the transmission charges bids. The online initial price bids shall be electronically opened by the bid opening committee in the presence of the bid evaluation committee. The bidder who has quoted the lowest transmission charge as per the evaluation procedure shall be considered for the award.

(i) The BPC is required to complete e-reverse bidding after opening of the initial offer within 75 days. The procurer may give extended time frame indicated herein based on the prevailing circumstances, and such alterations shall not be construed to be deviation from these guidelines.

(j) The TSP shall make an application for the grant of a transmission licence to the Appropriate Commission within five (5) working days from the date of execution of the Share Purchase Agreement for acquisition of the SPV.

(k) The BPC shall make the final result of evaluation of all bids public. The final TSA, along with the certification by the bid evaluation committee, shall be forwarded to the Appropriate Commission, for the adoption of tariff discovered from the quoted annual transmission charges during the e-reverse bidding process in terms of Section 63 of the Act.

7. Therefore, we have to examine whether the Guidelines issued by the Central Government have been followed in the present case in a transparent process of bidding.

8. The Ministry of Power, Government of India, vide its Gazette Notification No. CG-DL-E-21032025-261808 dated 19.3.2025, has notified the PFCCL as a Bid Process Coordinator for the purpose of selection of a bidder as Transmission Service Provider to establish the inter-State transmission system for the “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE projects in Morena SEZ in Madhya Pradesh-Phase I (2500 MW)” on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer Basis through a tariff-based competitive bidding process.

9. Morena-I SEZ Transmission Limited was incorporated on 16.4.2025 under the Companies Act, 2013, as a wholly owned subsidiary of PFCCL with the objective to establish the inter-State transmission system for “Transmission system for evacuation of power from RE projects in Morena SEZ in Madhya Pradesh-Phase I (2500 MW)” and to act as the Transmission Service Provider after being acquired by the successful bidder.

In the light of the discussions in the preceding paragraphs, it emerges that the selection of the successful bidder and the discovery of the annual transmission charges of the Project have been carried out by the BPC through a transparent process of competitive bidding in accordance with the Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Power, Government of India, under Section 63 of the Act. BEC has certified that the process is in conformity with the Ministry of Power Guidelines. BEC, in its certificate dated 31.10.2025, has certified that Enerica Infra 1 Private Limited has emerged as the successful bidder after the conclusion of the e-reverse auction with the lowest transmission charges of Rs. 1562.34 million per annum. It is noted that the quoted tariff of Rs. 1562.34 million per annum is lower (~40.82% Lower) than the estimated CERC levelised tariff (Rs. 2639.99 million per annum). Based on the BEC certification, we approve and adopt the single annual transmission charge of Rs. 1562.34 million per annum as per the final offer of the successful bidder, subject to the grant of transmission licence to the Petitioner company. The transmission charges shall remain valid throughout the period covered in the TSA.

The sharing of the transmission charges by the designated ISTS customers (DICs) shall be governed by the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Sharing of inter-State Transmission Charges and Losses) Regulations, 2020, as amended from time to time.