Electric Power

The Electric Power Industry of India has been continuously evolving since independence. The Government of India had taken several policy initiatives since 1991 to bring in regulatory reforms and private sector participation to reduce losses across value chain and increase per capita consumption. The enactment of the Electricity Act 2003 was a major breakthrough in this direction, which delicensed generation and enabled private investment in the sector. Although objective of mandatory tariff based competitive bidding for power procurement was to benefit consumers at large, short supply of fuel, regulatory delays in contractual claims and non-payment of dues by the loss making discoms have remained the critical challenges. Unbundling of erstwhile State Electricity Boards and initiatives like UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) seem good in the short-run; however, the financial situation of majority of distribution companies still need stringent improvement measures, which would ultimately aid in strengthening entire electricity value chain.