Tata Power Co. Ltd. has applied for parallel licenses in different areas across Karnataka. The petitions cover the following revenue districts in the state DISCOMs’ existing area of supply –
- CESC – Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Hassan,
- BESCOM - Chikkballapura, Kolara, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Tumakuru and Chitradurga
- MESCOM – Shivamogga, Dakshin Kannada and Udupi
- GESCOM – Ballari, Kalaburangi, Raichur and Yadgir
- HESCOM – Belagavi, Uttara Kannada and Dharwad
These proposed areas constitute more than half of the total sales of the state DISCOMs. By FY29, in less than 3-year period, the applicant is also proposing to supply to 11% of projected HT sales and only 4% of projected LT sales. The Petitioner has issued public notices dated 25th and 26th May 2026 inviting comments and objections to the applications. The present combined submission is in response to these public notices.
The submission argues that grant of parallel licenses is premature and unwarranted given the far-reaching implications on the development of the sector. These include network rollout and power procurement decisions accounting for significant cost burden and investment lock-ins which will be passed on to consumers in a cost-plus framework. Without consideration and clarity provided for several aspects and clear frameworks for operation of multiple distribution licensees in parallel, there could be underutilization of assets, resource lock in due to poor planning and cherry picking of consumers. This parallel licensing proposal also poses financial risks for already stressed state DISCOMs which have high losses and working capital borrowings. It will also result in significant underutilisation of its contract capacity and capital investments which have already been approved by the Commission. Similar issues have also been raised in our submissions in relation to parallel licensees applications by Tata Power filed in Maharashtra (here, here and here).
The present applications for within area of supply of Karnataka DISCOMs itself are deficient and fail to provide key information such as financial estimations, justifications and assumptions made for demand projections and power procurement planning and timeline for meeting universal supply obligations. Considering all these factors, the submission urges the Commission to reject all applications for parallel licenses and explore other avenues of introducing competition in the sector, such as, strengthen and smoothen procedures for green open access, undertaking competitive bidding like approach to strengthen sub-transmission network and improving O&M of the same.
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