CERC appoints Jishnu Baruah as a new chairman

As the new chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), India's primary regulator of the energy sector, Jishnu Baruah took the oath. Jishnu Baruah was sworn in as the new CERC Chairman at Shram Shakti Bhavan by Electricity, New and Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh.

Barua is a retired Indian administrative service (Retd. IAS) official of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He was a member of the 1988 batch. He served as Chief Secretary of Assam from August 2022 until his retirement. He held a number of positions in the Assam and central governments before being appointed chief secretary of the state. Upon his retirement, Barua served as chairman of the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited. Jishnu Barua holds a Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies, a Postgraduate degree in History and a Graduate degree in Philosophy.

This succeeded Barua PK Pujari, whose extended term in the Commission will end in June 2022.

After speaking with the new CERC chairman, Singh congratulated Baura on the excellent work he did as CEO of Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd. He also stated that the country's electricity system has improved significantly in recent years. According to him, the available capacity is sufficient to meet the demand for electricity. However, as the economy grows by about 7% per year and the demand for electricity increases by 10% per year, the electricity system must be prepared to meet this rising demand over the next ten to fifteen years. According to the Union Minister, increased transparency of companies and ease of doing business have increased investment in the energy sector.

The CERC of the central government is a statutory body. It is responsible for regulating and setting tariffs for interstate electricity transmission, as well as licensing those who wish to act as electricity traders and transmission licensees for interstate operations.