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Divisions

Legal Engineering Finance Regulatory Affairs Economics MIS Administration

Legal Division

The legal department of the CERC primarily deals with all types of petitions, validates and scrutinizes the petitions, schedules hearing dates and performs legal activities as required.The main function of the legal department is to:

  • Deals with all kinds of petitions received related to Tariff, Grant of License, Incentives, unscheduled interchange, additional capitalisation and petitions concerning all interstate matters; including appeal/ petitions filed in Supreme Court, High Court and APTEL.
  • Validates petitions in terms of compliance requirements as per the existing regulations/ orders and the law, conduct of business regulations and the Electricity Act 2003.
  • Prepares notice, fixes hearing dates, despatches notices, prepares schedule of hearings.
  • Scrutinises appeals/ petitions, prepares grounds, provide legal inputs to Commission in discharge of judicial/ quasi-judicial matters including proceedings, petitions, pleadings and listing of cases, prepares records of proceedings (RoP).
  • Performs legal activities related to notification of an order, regulation, and amendments; prepares final document of the same.

Engineering Division

The engineering department of the CERC primarily deals with the different types of tariff and other petitions, deals with framing of regulations and provides inputs on technical matters wherever required.The main function of the engineering department is to:

  • Deal with petitions related to final tariff, grid operations, incentive and related matters, UI/ RLDC, grant of license – transmission, trading, approval of power exchange, removal of difficulties pertaining to operating parameters, adjudication in technical matters between beneficiaries and generators and open access, different regulations..
  • Deal with framing of regulations related to tariff, connectivity ,short term, medium term open access and long term access and related matters, regulations for IEGC, UI and grid operation and management, issues related to grid discipline and UI payments.
  • Prepare fact sheet/ brief note for the oral hearing.
  • Provide note for the final/ interim orders.
  • Suggest changes/ additions to existing regulations.
  • Provide inputs in framing new regulations as per Commission's directions.
  • Provide inputs in technical matters pending in APTEL/ Court and for issues raised in parliament.
  • Assist the Commission in discharge of its proceedings in technical matters.

Finance Division

Activities of finance division can be segregated in to two parts i.e. external finance and Internal Finance. While external finance deals primarily with Tariff and licensing related issue, the internal financing with budgetary management, finance compliances and various audit activities. Brief activities of both functions are:
Activities of External Finance:

  • Input for drafting of Regulations, norms setting for financial parameters and review.
  • Determination of tariff Generation (Hydro and Thermal) as well as inter-state transmission. It consists of following sub-activities:-
  • Development of appropriate model and necessary modifications required in view change in Regulations/Judgment of APTEL etc.
  • Preparation of Technical Validation after examination of Petition.
  • Examination of the information for adequacy of information for listing of petition.
  • Preparation of Fact Sheets.
  • Working out tariff.
  • Also providing comments/input for financial issue pending in APTEL, High Court/Supreme Court.
  • Issuance of trading licence involving net worth and ratio analysis.
  • Providing input issuance of transmission license.
  • Examination of adoption of tariff petition coming through competitive bidding route.
  • Providing financial input for various sources of renewal energy for generic tariff.
  • Development of Tariff models for studies entrusted by the Commission.

Activities of Internal Finance:

  • The preparation of budget.
  • Scrutiny of proposals for financial expenditure for concurrence.
  • Cash management.
  • Internal audit.
  • CAG audit.
  • Besides CERC, these activities are also performed for FOR, FOIR and SAFIR.

Regulatory Affairs Division

The Regulatory Affairs Division in the Commission has the responsibility to provide policy and regulatory inputs to the decision making process in the Commission. The key responsibilities of Regulatory Division are as below:

  • Monitoring of emerging trends, Policy Matters (involving EA,2003, Policies/Guidelines issued under the Act) which have a bearing on the functioning of Commission
  • Identifying the need of policies/regulations, to provide inputs on interpretation & implementation of policies and to ensure compliance
  • Assessment of impact of regulation through quantitative/qualitative study with stakeholder/experts/internal professional engagement; Research, Analysis, study of reports, market indicators to analyze the impact of various Regulations;
  • Identification of gaps in regulation/orders/guidelines and evolving proposals for future course of action of the Commission; Recommendation/evolving future course of actions, formulation of strategic plan based on assessment and objective analysis
  • Renewable Energy Preferential Tariffs; Renewable Energy Certificate; Grid Integration of Renewables ; Framing of and implementation of Regulations related to RE tariff and REC matters; Policy issues relating to renewable energy and relevant energy statistics.
  • Petitions on Renewable Energy Tariff/Orders and REC;
  • Providing interface with Ministries/Departments and regulatory agencies on policy and regulatory matters (Including Parliament References and Standing Committee related activities);
  • Inputs/comments for cases in Appellate Tribunal for Electricity/High Courts/Supreme Court
  • Analysing the functions /operations of Commission and spot the opportunities to strengthen the activities of the Commission according to the changing environment and policy development
  • International Co-operation on sharing best practices and undertaking tasks / assignments as directed by Commission on need basis
  • Activities of Forum of Regulators, Forum of Indian Regulators and South Asia Forum for Infrastructure Regulation with respect to Studies, Model Regulations, Analysis of Orders of Regulatory Commissions, Meetings, Newsletters, periodic compliance to ATE on Tariff Orders, CGRFs & Ombudsman, Capacity building programme for Chairpersons, Members and officials of SERCs, Accounts and Statutory Compliance, Legal cases etc.
  • Commission Affairs (Commission Meetings); Central Advisory Committee (CAC) Meetings etc.
  • Annual Report and Other Publications

Economics Division

The Economics Division of the CERC primarily deals with petitions related to power exchanges, trading licensees and escalation rates. The division prepares Monthly and Annual Market Monitoring Reports and notifications on escalation rates. The main functions of the economics division are as under:

  • Deals with petitions related to power exchanges, compliance of inter-state trading licensees and escalation rates applicable for the projects through competitive bidding process.
  • Deals with framing of regulations and amendment to the regulations related to power market, issue of inter-state trading license and trading margin. Provide inputs for tariff regulations.
  • Prepare notifications on various escalation factors and other parameters every six months as per the MOP Guidelines for determination of tariff by bidding process for procurement of power by Distribution Licensees and for transmission services.
  • Compliance monitoring with respect to trading regulations, trading margin regulations and power market regulations.
  • Prepare monthly and annual reports on short-term power market as part of market monitoring.
  • Review of power exchanges.

MIS Division

MIS plays the role of a strategic business partner to the core functions in the commission in order to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the organization. The MIS responsible for the following key functions:

  • Website Management
  • Software – Developed In-house or purchased from the market
  • Network and Facility Management
  • Library Management

Administration Division

The main function of the administration & Accounts department is to:

  • Look after human resource needs of the CERC, Salaries, Perks & EPF, leave management of the employees, liaise with the parent departments of the employees.
  • Deal with payroll and accounts of the CERC, Income tax details, budget, EPF remittance, expenses and approval, preparation of quarterly/ yearly accounting reports, submits reports to MoP.