Abstract: The battery feed circuit (FIG. 3) provides a balanced dc feed current (I.sub.TR) to a 2-wire telecommunications path. The dc current in each conductor is generated by a bidirectional current source (103 or 104) which is responsive to one of a complementary pair of first control signals (S.sub.1, S.sub.1) along with a second control signal (S.sub.2). The complementary pair of first control signals is generated by a feedback circuit (105) which monitors the differential mode voltage (V.sub.TR) across the path. To reduce power consumption, the complementary pair of first control signals is a nonlinear function of the differential mode voltage. The resulting battery feed profile (FIG. 2) reduces the current on short path lengths. Longitudinal balance is provided by the second control signal which varies the currents generated by each bidirectional current source by equal amounts. This second control signal is generated by a second feedback circuit (109) which monitors the common mode voltage across the path.