GURUGRAM: Haryana’s electricity regulator has granted Eleven Power a 25-year parallel distribution licence for Gurugram and Nuh revenue districts, while requiring further approval before consumers can switch suppliers.
The October 19 order gives the company one week to accept the conditions. The draft says the licence takes effect when the commission communicates its decision. This does not establish an immediate change of supplier for residents.
What Eleven Power plans to build
In its earlier petition summary, Eleven Power describes a network extending across Gurugram Suburban, Gurugram City, Manesar, Sohna and Nuh. The proposed construction programme runs from financial year 2026-27 to 2030-31. Its sales projections begin in 2027-28, initially serving consumers near receiving stations and network corridors before expanding. Those projections describe the company’s business plan, rather than a street-wise opening calendar. Its baseline of about 8.36 lakh consumers refers to 2024-25, not a verified October count.
The summary puts the proposed investment at about Rs 4,717 crore. Roughly Rs 4,650 crore concerns the wires business, with about Rs 66 crore for the supply business, including smart meters, customer centres, automation and bill collection. The plan envisages underground cables in Gurugram and a mixture of underground and overhead systems in Nuh.
Smart prepaid meters and remotely supervised high-voltage networks form part of the proposal. Its renewable-power strategy includes firm and dispatchable renewable energy and purchases through the Green Day Ahead Market. These remain planned equipment and procurement arrangements; the summary is not a record of installations completed or electricity already supplied.
Why the Gurugram City schedule matters
The independent expert committee’s August 7 report, included in the case record, examined a specific sequencing concern. It found the first two years’ limited investment in Gurugram City insufficiently explained, although the division ultimately had the largest allocation. The committee treated this as a question of deferral requiring clarification, rather than proof that the city or particular consumers would be excluded.
Its wider assessment accepted phased development as compatible with the duty to serve consumers. It nevertheless recommended division-wise milestones and safeguards against unjustified delays for less commercially attractive areas. The committee also distinguished a funding plan from its execution: about 84% of proposed capital expenditure fell in the final three years, making timely mobilisation material to delivery.
For households, the report identified practical risks during a transfer between suppliers: interrupted supply, disputed arrears or deposits, and overlapping or missing bills. It recommended a framework binding both utilities. A proposed procedure written by one company could not, on its own, settle the obligations of the other.
The licence conditions require justification of Gurugram City’s investment sequence. Eleven Power must also seek approval for a switching protocol within 60 days of licence grant. The approved framework must precede actual transfers. Transmission connectivity and statutory clearances are required before commercial operations begin. It also requires the outgoing utility to disconnect only after the incoming supplier successfully energises the connection, and prohibits simultaneous energisation from both systems.
A licence does not set a household’s new bill
The Electricity Act’s tariff provisions provide the separate regulatory route. Section 62 assigns retail tariff determination to the appropriate commission. Where two or more distributors operate in one area, it permits the commission to set a maximum retail-tariff ceiling to promote competition. That is a regulatory power, not an automatic discount or a rupee-per-unit offer from the new supplier.
Section 64 requires a tariff applicant to publish an abridged application and requires the commission to consider public suggestions and objections before deciding it. This gives residents a different document to watch for from a licence announcement: an actual tariff application and the resulting decision. It does not establish that a fresh objection window has opened in this case.
The Act also preserves consumer grievance machinery. Section 42 requires a distribution licensee to establish a grievance forum and provides for an Electricity Ombudsman when grievances remain unredressed. Supplier choice therefore sits alongside regulated complaint handling; it does not replace it.
Dalimss News has separately explained DHBVN’s complaint routes and reported on a Sector 102 electricity dispute.
