Andhra Pradesh: TBCB-awarded new InST projects now have a threshold restriction

The threshold amount of more than Rs 250 crore, exclusive of land cost, has been set by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) for new intra-state transmission (InST) projects that would be awarded under Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB).

This aligns with the Supreme Court’s directives and the Ministry of Power’s recommendations for the State government to adopt the TBCB for the construction of InST projects. On May 17, a notice was published in the gazette to that effect. As a result, the bid process coordinators will use TBCB to carry out any new InST projects that cost more than Rs 250 crore and are developed by STU (Transmission Utility), which has been notified by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and authorized by the APERC. This is carried out in accordance with the suggestions made by the State government-constituted authorized committee and in accordance with the criteria for competitive bidding that are periodically announced by the Central Government.

All new InST projects for which the commission has not yet granted permission will be subject to the threshold restriction. To invite bids for the development of the projects via TBCB, the whole InST project portfolio, including any upstream and downstream initiatives, will be planned as a single project.

The STU will obtain prior approval for any InST System implementations that it plans to carry out under a cost-plus approach under Section 62 of The Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003), provided that the project is of a critical nature (e.g., transmission systems being developed for defense, railways, airports, etc.), or if there are ownership or interface issues.