After facing repeated protests, the Power Ministry will come out with a fresh draft on the contentious Electricity Amendment Bill in the next three months, which will then be circulated for inter-ministerial consultations.
“We will be circulating the first draft of the Electricity Amendment Bill in the next three months,” Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal told reporters at a media interaction.
He did not elaborate on the timeline for the presentation of the fresh draft in Parliament.
In August 2022, the Power Ministry placed the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2022 in Parliament. However, following widespread protests from the opposition, the bill was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Tearing into the Bill, the Opposition parties termed the amendments as an act of limiting State government’s autonomy and against India’s federal structure. They claimed that amendments allow for indiscriminate privatisation of the power distribution sector.
According to government officials, the Bill is critical for the modernisation and effective expansion of India’s power generation, transmission and distribution system.
The 2022 Bill proposed entry of private companies in power distribution and sought to enable consumers to choose from a multiple set of service providers like for mobile phone services.
It also aims to amend section 14 of the Electricity Act to allow usage of distribution networks by all licensees under provisions of non-discriminatory open access to enable competition, increase efficiency of Discoms for improving services. It also seeks to strengthen payment security mechanisms and give more powers to regulators. The Bill has also sought to amend Section 62 to make provisions for a graded revision in tariff over a year.
Discom Listing
On listing on Discoms, the Power Secretary said that some utilities that can be listed on stock exchanges have been identified.
“Listing is a long process, around a year. NTPC Green Energy’s listing took us one year of homework. Now, certain transmission and generation utilities have been identified. They have already approached their state governments. They are in the process of engaging merchant bankers. It will take one year,” Agarwal said.
The government is eyeing public listing of Discoms in a bid to enhance their financial viability. Last month, The government announced the formation of a Group of Ministers (GoM), chaired by Minister of State for Power Shripad Yesso Naik, for addressing issues related to viability of distribution utilities.
It will submit its report by April 2025.
