AIPEF urges CM Karnataka not to grant parallel licencing to Tata power
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ May 27,2026
All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has urged the Chief Minister not to grant a parallel power distribution licence to Tata Power Company Ltd. As this is a threat to public electricity Infrastructure, consumer welfare and state ESCOM Viability.
Shailendera Dubey Chairman AIPEF has written to chief minister Karnataka seeking urgent intervention regarding five parallel distribution licence applications filed by Tata Power Company Limited Before Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) covering 19 districts across all five state ESCOMs in Karnataka.
The five applications are legally unsustainable as the Sixth Proviso to Section 14 of the Electricity Act, 2003 permits grant of a parallel distribution licence only where the applicant establishes and operates its own independent distribution network. This requirement is a mandatory statutory pre-condition and not a mere procedural formality. However, Tata Power Company Limited does not disclose any credible, funded or technically feasible plan for establishing an independent distribution network across the proposed nineteen districts.
This will leave an irreversible impact on the power sector of the state and consumers. This will lead to collapse of existing cross-subsidy framework as states electricity tariff structure is fundamentally dependent on cross-subsidy,wherein high-paying commercial and industrial consumers support subsidized electricity for domestic consumers, agricultural consumers and vulnerable sections.
A private parallel licensee would inevitably target profitable HT and commercial consumers in urban centres while avoiding low-revenue rural and social-obligation consumers.
This proposal of Tata Power is a threat to financial viability of ESCOMs as loss of premium revenue-paying consumers to a private licensee would weaken ESCOM finances, affect infrastructure investments and threaten continuity and quality of public electricity supply.
State ESCOMs are statutorily obligated to supply electricity to all categories of consumers including remote villages, agricultural pump sets and economically weaker sections.
AIPEF requests the Government of Karnataka to issue appropriate policy directions to KERC under Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to ensure protection of public interest.
State must conduct a comprehensive impact assessment before further proceedings before KERC and issue appropriate policy directions under Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to safeguard consumer welfare, financial stability of ESCOMs and public electricity infrastructure. Further the KERC must be directed to implead BESCOM, HESCOM, MESCOM, GESCOM and CESC as necessary respondents and permit detailed objections regarding financial and technical implications.
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