Union government proposal to amend Electricity Act is against interests of States: AP union opposes

Amaravati: The proposed Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020 will hurt the interests of consumers as well as discoms. The AP Electricity Employees Union opposed this bill, introduced by union government.

P Chandrasekhar, president of the union said that the Ministry of Energy, union government has been asking public to give opinion on this amendment during the COVID19 lockdown, which itself is not possible.

The union government has been trying to take away the rights of the State governments in energy sector through this amendment, Chandrasekhar criticised. The union government proposed to take the authority of appointing Chairman of State Electricity Regulatory Commissions. In fact, this authority is with the State governments so far, he explained.

As per the new bill, the authority of revisiting the electricity purchase agreements will be monitored and decided by the newly constituting Electricity Contracts Enforcement Authority, he said. So far, this authority is with the Regulatory Commission.

The electricity tariff also will be decided by the union government, but not the State governments, if this bill will be enacted. On the other hand, the union government also proposed to reduce or remove the cross subsidies on the electricity bills, he explained.

The energy issue is included in the residuary list of the Constitution, in which both the States and Union government have the authority to make laws. But, taking unilateral decision by the central government to act will hurt the basic spirit of the Constitution of India, Chandrasekhar said.