CCI Approves Majority Acquisition of NESCO by Tata Power

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of 51% of the equity share capital of NESCO Utility by Tata Power

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has announced that it has approved the acquisition of 51 percent of the equity share capital of North Eastern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (NESCO Utility) by Tata Power Company Limited  (TPCL) from Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (GRIDCO).

The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of 51 percent of equity share capital of NESCO Utility by the TPCL from GRIDCO pursuant to the competitive bidding process initiated by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC). With this takeover, the company’s distribution circles will expand to the NESCO region with a geographical spread of more than 27,500 sq. km and shall serve over 1.9 million consumers with annual input energy of 5450 MUs. It will manage a network of more than 90,000 ckt. km. for a license period of 25 years.

In early February, we had reported that Tata Power had received the Letter of Intent (LOI) from the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for the distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha’s five circles of NESCO constituting the areas of Balasore, Bhadrak, Baripada, Jajpur and Keonjhar.

With the inclusion of NESCO distribution utility of Odisha, Tata Power is serving the entire population of the state of Odisha with nearly 9 million consumers.

Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power had said at the time that “we are committed to providing reliable, affordable and quality power supply along with superior customer service, backed by innovative technology. We are thankful to the Odisha Government and Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission for giving us this opportunity and reaffirming Tata Power’s commitment to ‘Lighting up Lives’ for the people of Odisha.”

In January, Tata Power had announced that it had taken over the management and operations of WESCO and SOUTHCO in Odisha upon completion of the sale process. Thus making it responsible for distribution and retail supply of electricity in five circles of WESCO covering 2 million consumers, and 2.3 million consumers with an average energy input of 3470 MUs and retail supply of electricity in six circles of SOUTHCO.