Reliance, Essar keen on power trading

With power trading thrown open for competition, Reliance Industries and Essar Energy are among the six applicants who have applied for licence to venture into power trading.

Others are Power Trading Corporation, Trans Power Ltd, Koila Energy and the Adani Group.

PTC is the only existing player in power trading and is all set to become a Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) power trading company within a period of little over two years since it started operations in early 2001.

When contacted, Central Electricity Regulatory Authority secretary A K Sachan told PTI: "We have received applications from the above six applicants. Guidelines in this regard are likely to be issued by this weekend."

Sachan said the above mentioned players could go ahead with their business plans but the licence would be issued to them only after the authorities satisfy themselves that they meet the required guidelines.

Reliance operates in power activities through BSES, in which it has majority stake.

After completing the consultation process on the guidelines, Sachan said final regulation was expected to be ready by the middle of December this year and all the prospective players would have to meet the criteria.

He also said with the passage of New Electricity Act, PTC also required a licence to continue in trading business.

National Thermal Power Corporation has also created a separate company for venturing into power trading but it could not be confirmed whether it had applied for a licence with CERC.

Apart from NTPC, various private companies are also likely to invest in power trading business.

Trans Power Ltd has a memorandum of understanding with the Sikkim government for selling surplus power from there to the rest of the country.