Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has adopted and approved the transmission charges (tariff) associated with an ISTS-TBCB scheme housed under “Bidar Transco Ltd,” a subsidiary of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL).
In a very recent order, CERC adopted the annual transmission charges (tariff) of Rs.468.79 million that will be fixed for the entire duration of the transmission service agreement (TSA). The tariff approval is subject to Bidar Transco Ltd (BTL) receiving the interstate transmission licence from CERC, which is in progress. While CERC has granted interim transmission licence to BTL, the matter with respect to final licence will come up for hearing on June 20, 2025.
Bidar Transco Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PGCIL and is developing an ISTS scheme officially termed as “Augmentation of transformation capacity by 3×500 MVA, 400/220kV ICTs (6th – 8th) and 1×1500 MVA, 765/400kV ICT (4th) at Bidar PS.” The scheme is coming up in Karnataka and is scheduled to commission by February 2027 at an estimated investment of Rs.288 crore. The broad objective of this scheme is to honour additional connectivity applications received at the Bidar PS.
PGCIL officially acquired the project SPV “Bidar Transco Ltd” from bid process coordinator REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL) on February 18, 2025.
Two-way contest
There was limited bidder interest for Bidar Transco Ltd with just two bidders – PGCIL and Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) – submitting their response to the RfP. Based on the initial price bids, PGCIL was L1 with a quote of Rs.532.89 million with MEIL being a distant L2 with a bid of Rs.820.00 million.
The e-reverse auction (e-RA) saw 48 rounds of bidding spread over nearly 14 hours at the end of which, PGCIL was declared as the winner with a final price bid of Rs.468.79 million. MEIL reduced its initial bid by 43 per cent but ended up L2 at the end of the e-RA process.
Bidar Pooling Station
Incidentally, the Bidar pooling station (PS) that is being augmented under Bidar Transco Ltd scheme is coming up through an independent ISTS-TBCB scheme housed under “Powergrid Bidar Transmission Ltd,” which is currently under implementation and scheduled to commission by February 2026. Apart from building the Bidar PS (with total transformation capacity of 7,000 MVA), this scheme with an estimated outlay of around Rs.2,300 crore also involves 476 ckm of 765kV double-circuit line from Bidar PS to PGCIL’s existing Maheshwaram GIS substation in Telangana.
MEIL: ISTS-TBCB record
Currently, MEIL has one ISTS-TBCB scheme “Khandukhal Transmission Ltd” that is currently under construction and scheduled to commission by September 2025, albeit with a time overrun of nearly 12 months. In FY25, MEIL was qualified for opening of initial price bids of three ISTS-TBCB schemes but did not win any. In FY24, MEIL had won an ISTS-TBCB scheme in Gujarat housed under “KPS1 Transmission Ltd” but this scheme was eventually acquired by Adani Energy Solutions Ltd and was recently commissioned. (This discussion pertains to interstate TBCB schemes of MEIL and excludes intrastate schemes.)
Featured photograph (source: MPPTCL) is for representation only
