The Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission, AERC, in short, came into existence following a notification No PEL.112/97/Pt/308 issued by the Government of Assam on February 28, 2001 under provisions of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act, 1998.

Nilamani Barua, a former Senior Chief Engineer of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), was appointed as the first Chairman of the AERC on August 21, 2001. Anuj Goswami, an Assistant Executive Engineer in ASEB, who was attached to the Commission, was also appointed as the first Secretary in-charge of the Commission from September 18, 2001, till posting of a Secretary by the Government of Assam.

The Commission however began to officially function with a skeleton staff only from the last week of July 2002 from a temporary office at the ASEB Narengi campus with Sabbir Hussain, ACS, as its part-time Secretary, and a few grade 3 and grade 4 staff loaned from ASEB and the Government of Assam. Over the years, it shifted to three more temporary premises in Guwahati, until its own building was constructed at the ASEB Campus, Six-Mile, Guwahati.

Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission The permanent office building of Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission, which has been named ‘Bidyut Niyamak Bhawan’, was formally inaugurated on November 4, 2020, by the then Assam Chief Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in the presence of the then Minister for Finance, PWD, Health and Family Welfare Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma.

While the Commission was initially mandated to exercise the functions conferred under Section 22(1) of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act, 1998, its functions and responsibilities have increased with the coming into effect of the Electricity Act, 2003, as provided in Section 86 of the same.