MERC grants transmission licence to Jalna intrastate-TBCB scheme in Maharashtra
- October 12, 2026
In a very recent order, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) granted transmission licence to “Jalna Power Transmission Ltd,” a TBCB subsidiary of state transco Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (MSETCL).
Jalna Power Transmission Ltd (JPTL) is developing an intrastate transmission system (InSTS) involving establishment of 400/132kV AIS Jalna (Jalna district), along with associated lines, bays and LILO arrangements on multiple circuits, on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis.
MSETCL won the project under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism and acquired the project SPV “Jalna Power Transmission Ltd” on June 12, 2026.
The transmission licence came into force on October 6, 2026 and will be valid for a period of 25 years, subject to fulfillment of conditions by JPTL. Meanwhile, MERC also approved and adopted the annual transmission charges (tariff) of Rs.1,537.54 million per year, discovered through the TBCB process, followed by the e-reverse auction (e-RA) routine.
Project details
With an estimated cost of Rs.912 crore and a gestation period of 24 months, the Jalna schemes involves putting up a new 400/132kV, 3×315 MVA AIS substation at Jalna in the namesake district. This substation will be connected to existing MSETCL substations like 220kV Partur, 132kV Jalna MIDC, 132kV Ghansawangni and 132kV Utwad.
Project objective
The objective of developing the new Jalna substation is to meet the growing demand of steel industries and other EHV consumers in the Jalna region, given that there is limited scope to expand the existing 132kV network. Besides, neighbouring RE-rich areas like Tirthpuri, Partur and Utwad, where RE potential of 1 GW to 2 GW exists, will also be able to evacuate their generation through the proposed Jalna substation.
Bidding process
Six technically-qualified contenders – MSETCL, Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL), Resonia Ltd, Montecarlo Ltd, KCC Buildcon Pvt Ltd and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) – were qualified for opening of initial price bids.
MSETCL was L1 based on its initial price offer (IPO) of Rs.1,670 million. The first four entities in the list of six bidders provided above moved to the e-reverse auction (e-RA) stage. At the end of the 33 rounds of bidding in the e-RA process, MSETCL continued to be L1 with a final winning tariff (annual transmission charges) of Rs.1,537.34 million, nearly 4 per cent lower than its IPO.
It may be noted that the benchmark tariff based on MERC guidelines worked out to Rs.1,383.24 million, implying that the tariff discovered through the TBCB process was 11.1 per cent higher. Nevertheless, considering that six entities had participated in the bidding and that the final tariff was discovered after 33 bidding rounds in the e-RA, MERC approved the tariff.
Eighth TBCB transmission licence by MERC
The licence granted to Jalna Power Transmission Ltd represents the eighth granted by MERC to transmission schemes under the TBCB route. As discussed in this tndindia.com story dated September 7, 2026, MERC granted licences to seven intrastate-TBCB scheme in the first week of September 2026.
Also Read: Case Study: High tariff discovery in Jejuri-Hinjewadi intrastate-TBCB scheme (September 11, 2026)