Govt Employees Oppose Privatization Of Power Distribution: But Govt Wants To Push Electricity Amendment Bill

With the intention of streamlining electricity payments and encouraging competition in the electricity/power sector in the country, the Government has introduced an electricity amendment bill in the Lok Sabha on Aug 8, which is garnering whiplashes from opposition.

The Electricity Amendment Bill will be sent to the parliamentary standing committee for further discussions in detail.

Here’s everything you need to know about this bill and why the opposition is against it.

Electricity Amendment Bill to Be Sent to Standing Committee

With a view to make the whole payments process in the electricity/power sector more efficient, while giving users more options to choose their electricity supplier, thereby encouraging competition in the sector, and enabling a minimum tariff ceiling, thereby cutting off any sort of unhealthy pricing practices, among others, the Government has come up with the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

The aforementioned points are just some points understated in the bill.

The Power minister RK Singh has stated in the Lok Sabha on Aug 8 that the introduced electricity amendment bill will be sent to the parliamentary standing committee.

Some Highlights of the Bill

• It would allow multiple power distributors in an area, giving consumers more options to choose from.
• The power distribution licencees shall be permitted to use the networks of other licensees, thereby aiding new distributors to tackle infrastructure hurdles, and make the power distribution network more efficient.
• Regulators will be able to fix a minimum tariff ceiling, cutting off any unhealthy price wars among distributors.

“The amendments to the Act are also necessary in view of the importance of green energy for our environment in the context of global climate change concerns and our international commitments to increase the share of renewable energy,” states the amendment bill.

Opposition on the Bill

With the introduction of the electricity amendment bill, opposition parties have retorted it, stating that the bill favours the private sector, as it would allow the influx of several companies.

Further, they noted that the bill was against the interest of farmers, as the government may move away from giving them subsidised power or shift to a new system where they would be required to pay first and claim the subsidy later, stated a Moneycontrol report.

However, Singh has confirmed that the Bill has no provision of stopping any subsidies given to the farmers.

He tweeted, “Electricity ( Amendment ) Bill, 2022 is pro-people and for the growth of our economy. There is no change in subsidy provisions. The state can give any amount of subsidy, even free power to any category of consumers.

No provisions affecting farmers.”