By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 23, 2019: Tata Power has emerged as the successful bidder to own the licence for distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha’s five circles under the Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU).

The five electrical circles constituting CESU are the areas of Bhubaneswar (Electrical Circle – I and II), Cuttack, Paradip and Dhenkanal.

The license is being offered for 25 years initially.

The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has awarded the Letter of Intent (LOI) to Tata Power Company Ltd for the acquisition of CESU Power Distribution in Odisha, officials said.

“The proposed sale of CESU to Tata Power will be through the formation of a special purpose vehicle entity. Tata Power has been informed that Government of Odisha will own 49 per cent equity stake in the proposed SPV and Tata Power will hold 51 per cent equity with their management,” the Company said in a regulatory filing.

CESU is spread over 30,000 Sq km with population of over 1.4 crore and consumer base of 2.5 million. The average demand of CESU is around 1,300 MW with the annual input energy of 8,400 MUs (FY2018).

“Recently, our focus has been on increasing the company’s existing footprint in distribution of electricity through Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) with discoms. This tie up with CESU is the latest such partnership in the distribution business,” Tata Power CEO & MD Praveer Sinha said.

“We hope to transform Orissa distribution system with 24×7 reliable power and unmatched customer services with extensive social engagement using our existing experience in distribution of electricity in Delhi, Mumbai and Ajmer,” Tata Power President-T&D Sanjay Banga said.

Tata Power is a leading integrated power company and, together with its subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities, has an installed capacity of 10,763 MW.