The expert committee constituted by Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to examine the petition of a 2025 incorporated private company Eleven Power Private Limited for a parallel electricity distribution licence in Gurugram and Nuh districts has recommended that the licence may be granted.
State owned power distribution company, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) at present exclusively serves electricity consumers in the two districts. Sunil Sachdeva, the co- founder of Medanta - The Medicity, a leading chain of multi-super specialty hospitals is the director of Eleven Power and chairman of Eleven Group.
The panel headed by retired IAS officer, Alok Nigam in its report submitted to the commission said the committee has not found any ground upon which the Eleven Power’s petition falls to be refused. “The committee accordingly recommends that a parallel distribution licence may be considered to be granted to the applicant subject to the conditions as suggested in schedules A to D. The matters requiring regulatory attention are matters of implementation, sequencing and continuing supervision and the committee has recommended the licence conditions and safeguards by which they may be addressed,’’ said the report which is recommendatory in nature.
The committee’s recommendations, however, are being challenged by the power engineer’s bodies who have raised questions over whether a new licensee can fulfil the statutory condition of universal supply obligation (USO) while building its network in a phased manner.
{{/usCountry}}The committee’s recommendations, however, are being challenged by the power engineer’s bodies who have raised questions over whether a new licensee can fulfil the statutory condition of universal supply obligation (USO) while building its network in a phased manner.
{{/usCountry}}Did panel test phased, demand-driven model vis-a-vis supply obligation: Engineers’ bodies
Representatives of the power engineer’s bodies who are interveners in the petition have questioned whether the expert panel has adequately tested Eleven Power’s phased, demand driven model’s compatibility with the statutory obligation to serve the entire licenced area according to USO.
While Eleven Power has committed to spend about ₹4,716 crore in five years (from 2026-27 till 2030-31) with 84% of its five year capital expenditure being in the last three years, the expert panel has accepted this phased investment plan, notwithstanding the contention raised by DHBVN that ₹11,397 crore would be required to create infrastructure capable of meeting the universal service obligation (USO) across two districts. Brushing aside DHBVN’s argument, the panel has treated the two estimates as based on different approaches for network development with Eleven Power proposing a phased, demand linked rollout.
“What happens if the consumer migration is much faster than anticipated for the private player. The concept of universal service obligation is enshrined under section 43 of the Electricity Act which puts a statutory obligation on every energy supplier to serve all consumers in its area without discrimination. A central point of DHBVN’s objections to the Eleven Power’s bid is the USO. The private company needs to have complete infrastructure. There cannot be a phased investment plan. We will contest the capital adequacy,” said Puneet Kundu, president, Haryana Power Engineers Association.
The DHBVN in its objections had said that Eleven Power has failed to establish its capability to discharge the statutory obligations cast upon a distribution licensee under section 43 of the Electricity Act, “The obligation is area-wide in nature and extends to all categories of consumers and all parts of the licensed area. However, from the infrastructure provided by Eleven Power it is visible that the petitioner has envisioned the infrastructure cost as per share of their load and sales growth and not according to USO towards the whole area. This is further evidenced by the respondent’s own assessment of its network infrastructure in the proposed supply area,’’ the utility said.
The panel however said recommendations for grant of license would be subject to conditions such as category wise coverage obligations in each phase, service to domestic, agricultural and rural consumers, periodic review of compliance with USO, consumer mix and rollout milestones, periodic assessment of actual consumer migration and its impact on cross-subsidy, continuous compliance with Sections 42 and 43.
Company plan smacks of cherry-picking: Utility
State owned transmission utility HVPN in its objections had said that Eleven Power’s business plan raises serious concerns regarding “cherry-picking” as the company proposes to initially supply consumers in the vicinity of grid substations at 220 kV to 66 kV levels which are, by definition, the highest-density industrial and commercial load centres and are also the most commercially lucrative consumers.
The HVPN said it was aware of the broader implications of cherry-picking for the financial health of the incumbent distribution licensees, which in turn has implications on the cross-subsidy framework and the ability of the state to maintain affordable power supply to agricultural and rural consumers. “Eleven Power’s business plan acknowledges that it expects only 2.5% of DHBVNs consumers to migrate to it with the balance being new projects, industrial expansion, residential developments and commercial establishments. This is a clear indication that the Eleven Power’s model is designed to attract premium commercial and industrial consumers while avoiding the less commercially attractive agricultural and rural consumer segments,’’ HVPN said.