Electricity Regulatory Commission

Abstract

Power in relation to economy has always been the first priority of any government. Moreover, the emphasis is also on how sustainable this sector can be in terms of development and infrastructure activities. The sectors like households, governments, business, and industries are heavily dependent on power to maximise their full utility. The absence or presence of power dictates the success or failure of an economy in terms of expanding production, trade, reducing poverty and enhancing the environmental dynamics. The structure of Indian Power Sector has been so designed that the policy making is done by the Central and the respective State Governments, like the Ministry of Power and other government bodies. When it comes to regulation of power across the country, there is Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERC) for the States. Then there is the process of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of the power. In the Generation Stage, there is Central Genco’s done by companies like NTPC, NHPC which is done at the central level. At the state level, we have State Genco’s such as Thermal Hydral Renewable, etc. We also have the Independent Power Producers such as the Tata Power, the Adani Power, the Reliance Power, etc and the generation of power is completely taken care by these companies independently. The transmission of power is mainly done by the POWERGRID which is the Central Transmission Utility (CTU). Similarly, for power transmission in States, there is provision of State Transmission Utility (STU), and Independent Power Transmission Companies also exist in the power market for the same purpose. The Distribution of Power is a State subject and for this the State Discoms are responsible for timely distribution of power. We also have some Private Discoms for major cities in India like Mumbai, New Delhi, Ajmer, etc. Nowadays, there is also the presence of Franchise Model for distribution of power.