The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) on Monday granted a 25-year parallel electricity distribution licence to a 2025 incorporated company, Eleven Power for Gurugram and Nuh revenue districts despite objections from the Haryana’s power distribution and transmission companies, power engineers, employee unions and public representatives.
This is the first time a private entity has been granted a distribution licence in the state. 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 company has proposed a power procurement plan comprising 80% renewable energy and 20% thermal power.
In its October 19 order, the commission concluded that the financial implications arising from the grant of parallel distribution licence including impacts on tariff, aggregate revenue requirement, cross subsidy, existing power procurement obligations and stranded costs were matters for post grant regulatory determination and do not constitute grounds for refusal of the licence.
Backlog of power connections highlighted to justify the bid
The regulator has tried to justify the grant of a parallel licence highlighting persistent backlog of electricity connections and providing electricity consumers with a choice of supplier.
“This is borne out by the substantial pendency of consumer grievances, applications for release of new electricity connections and load enhancement. According to the latest status furnished by the state’s distribution companies, 20,603 applications involving 770.407 megawatt (MW) were pending with state owned power distribution companies Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) while Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) had 1,08,590 applications involving 1642.542 MW pending as on October 1, 2025. Thus, the aggregate pending load with the two distribution companies stood at 2412 MW as against 2,403 MW as on April 1, 2025,’’ the Commission said.
The Commission said it has taken a serious note of the fact that notwithstanding the substantial number of connections released during the intervening period, the cumulative pending load has continued to remain significant.
DHBVN in its objections said the 2025 incorporated company has grossly underestimated the investment required for establishing an independent distribution network which is capable of fulfilling its statutory universal service obligation (USO). DHBVN currently serves electricity consumers in Gurugram and Nuh districts.
While Eleven Power’s business plan envisaged a capital investment of ₹4,717 crore requiring promoter equity of about ₹1,415 crore, the DHBVN in its objections said that the capital investment required for establishing distribution infrastructure in Gurugram and Nuh revenue districts would be approximately ₹11,397.7 crore at current price levels over and above the working capital requirement, requiring equity investment of ₹3,419.33 crore for putting entire network for meeting universal supply obligation. This, it said, was as per the current infrastructure required to provide power supply to consumers in the proposed area of licensee jurisdiction.
As per DHBVN’s assessment, the investment requirement comprises ₹6,754.21 crore for the high-tension network, ₹3,443.99 crore for the low-tension network and ₹586.22 crore for the 33 KV network. The utility said the estimates were prepared on the basis of the infrastructure required to provide electricity to nearly 8.68 lakh consumers spread across the Gurugram and Nuh revenue districts.
DHBVN contended that the investment assessment should also account for working capital and land acquisition or lease costs during implementation phase. The utility said that Eleven Power failed to demonstrate availability of such equity through audited financials or internal resource generation. Its reliance on volatile market value of securities cannot justify creditworthiness for such a large-scale capital programme, it said.
Company’s business plan smacks of cherry picking: HVPN
HVPN, the transmission utility, in its objections said that Eleven Power business plan raised 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 high density, commercially attractive areas
The regulator however rejected the objections, saying that the proposed phased development of the parallel distribution network would violate the universal service obligation or lead to selective supply in commercially attractive areas.
“The present grant of licence is accordingly being considered in the context of the statutory framework and the facts and circumstances peculiar to the areas of Gurugram and Nuh. The Commission further makes it clear that the grant of the parallel distribution licence for Gurugram and Nuh revenue districts shall not be treated as a precedent or as creating any vested right in favour of any applicant seeking a parallel distribution licence in the same or any other area in Haryana,’’ it said.
The Eleven Power has proposed a capital investment of ₹4,716 crore between 2026–27 and 2030–31. Of this, ₹4,650 crore is earmarked for the distribution network, or wire business, while ₹66 crore is allocated to the supply business.
The regulator took note of the company’s commitment to invest ₹304 crore in Nuh accounting for approximately 6.5% of the proposed investment. It observed that Nuh would be covered from the first phase of development countering objections that Eleven Power might indulge in cherry picking by focussing on high revenue areas of Gurugram.
Will oppose the power regulator’s decision: AIPEF
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Monday said it was committed to oppose HERC’s move to grant a parallel power distribution license to Eleven Power tooth and nail.
“AIPEF will extend its full support to the decisions taken by the Haryana power employees and Engineers Joint Action Committee in its meeting,’’ said AIPEF spokesperson Vinod Gupta on Monday.
Haryana energy minister Anil Vij said that the state government will challenge the order of the regulatory body in Appellate Tribunal for Electricity( APTEL). The minister said this in a post on social media platform X.
Hitender Rao is Senior Associate Editor covering the state of Haryana. Over the past three decades, he has reported on politics, governance, economy, migration, public policy and legal affairs. His work focuses on investigative and data driven journalism with a particular focus on government accountability, public institutions, corporate regulations and judiciary. A Fulbright- Humphrey scholar, he has covered elections, legislative developments, public finances, infrastructure, law enforcement and policy formulation, widely reporting on issues that shape governance and public life across the state through in depth reporting and analysis. He has also written extensively on migration issues and public administration focusing on how government decisions, institutions and corporate sector influence citizens and public policy.Read More