By Vinod Kumar Gupta
In a significant development, the Power Ministry has circulated and sought comments on Electricity Amendment Bill 2018 in 45 days. The draft has been circulated among all related government agencies, departments, regulators, PSUs, and industry associations.

The government has sought feedback on the revised Electricity Amendment Bill on the ground that it the bill facilitates more than one service operator to supply power to a consumer in one distribution area. The distribution licensee has the obligation to supply 24×7 power to its consumers. Besides it, the bill has provision for the smart grid to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics, sustainability of generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in an automated manner.

The consumption of electricity by the consumer shall be metered and charges shall be paid in accordance with the tariff determined by the Regulatory Commission. In case the state government proposes to provide any subsidy to any category of consumer, it shall be through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), the bill says.
However, the revised bill is based on the recommendations of the committee and consultations with industrial houses. The Power sector employees and engineers concerns remain unresolved in Electricity (Amendment) bill 2018 as apparently none of the suggestions made by power sector engineers and employees has been included in the revised draft.
Previously the then Power Minister Piyush Goyal had agreed on some points including the amendment bill shall be a enabling provision in the act and shall not be mandatory for the states, no cherry picking will be allowed and all the supply licenses will have universal power supply obligation, there will be no compulsion to introduce private power distribution licenses and the states will have the option to go for all state owned power supply licensees. The states will have to submit the roadmap in five years and there will not be any time limit to implement to roadmap.

The other things included in the bill are that all sale and purchase of power shall be through long Term, medium Term, short Term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA). This will allow stressed power projects to go for medium-term power purchase agreements and run their plants. With effect from the commencement of the Electricity (Amendment) Act, 2018, all consumers having a connected load of 1 Mega Watt and above with the power system may procure at their option electricity through open access.

This is the revised the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2014, which seeks to privatize the power sector. The Electricity Amendment Bill 2014 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 19, 2014 and subsequently referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy. The panel gave its report in September, 2015.
The central government must prepare the National Electricity Policy and Tariff Policy and National Renewable Energy Policy for development of the
Power system based on optimal utilisation of resources including separation of distribution and supply functions and measures to improve electricity supply to the consumer.