Former Assam chief secretary Jishnu Barua is the new chief of India’s power regulator

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission was without a chief for nearly eight months.

The government has appointed Jishnu Barua, former Assam chief secretary, as chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Barua will succeed PK Pujari, whose extended tenure in the Commission got over in June 2022. The CERC was without a chief for nearly eight months.

Barua’s appointment comes at a time when India is bracing for a steep increase in its electricity demand as summers hit the country in the ensuing months. The government has predicted the peak power demand to hit 229 GW in April.

The Union ministry of power proposed the name of Barua as the new chairperson of CERC. It was approved and notified by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on February 23. Moneycontrol has a copy of the appointment letter.

The CERC is responsible for regulating and determining tariffs for inter-state transmission of electricity, issuing licences to persons to function as transmission licensee and electricity trader with respect to their inter-state operations.

Barua, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, retired as Assam’s chief secretary in August last year. Prior to his appointment as the state’s chief secretary, he had worked in various capacities in the Assam and the Central governments.