The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has issued an order on 7th July 2025 regarding the adoption of transmission charges for the Fatehgarh II and Barmer I PS Transmission Project. The petition was filed by Fatehgarh II and Barmer I PS Transmission Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, seeking approval of transmission tariffs discovered through a tariff-based competitive bidding process under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003. The objective was to establish the Inter-State Transmission System for augmentation at Fatehgarh-II PS, Fatehgarh-IV PS (Section-II), and Barmer-I PS on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis.
PFC Consulting Limited (PFCCL) was designated as the Bid Process Coordinator (BPC) and managed the bidding process in line with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Power. The bidding followed a single-stage two-envelope process, including an e-reverse auction conducted on the MSTC portal. Two bidders participated in the process—Power Grid Corporation of India Limited and Apraava Energy Private Limited. Initially, Apraava had the lowest price quote of Rs. 647.10 million per annum. However, after 51 rounds of e-reverse auction on 7th February 2025, Power Grid Corporation of India emerged as the lowest bidder with a final quoted tariff of Rs. 569.31 million per annum, while Apraava quoted Rs. 570.74 million.
The Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC), comprising representatives from CEA, NRPC, and other stakeholders, confirmed that the bidding process was conducted transparently and in full compliance with the guidelines. The levelised tariff calculated based on CERC norms and estimated project cost stood at Rs. 652.16 million per annum, thus confirming the competitiveness of the discovered tariff.
Following the bidding, Power Grid Corporation was issued the Letter of Intent (LoI) on 13th February 2025 and completed the acquisition of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) on 21st March 2025. As required, the transmission licence application was filed, and the petition for tariff adoption was submitted, albeit with a procedural delay of six days, which the Commission has condoned.
The project scope includes augmentation with transformers and bays at three substations—Fatehgarh-II, Fatehgarh-IV (Section-II), and Barmer-I. The scheduled commercial operation dates range from November 2026 to December 2026. The sharing of the approved transmission charges shall be as per the provisions of the 2020 CERC regulations on the sharing of interstate transmission charges and losses.
CERC has approved the annual transmission charges of Rs. 569.31 million per annum as discovered in the competitive bidding process. The charges shall remain valid throughout the period covered in the Transmission Service Agreement (TSA), and all relevant parties have been directed to implement the same accordingly.
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