Staff to protest changes in power Bill

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 18

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) employees and engineers will hold a demonstration against the planned tabling of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 during the monsoon session of Parliament on Monday.

The protest will be held on the nationwide call of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE).

“The main objective of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 is to split power distribution companies further into carriage (distribution network) and contents (electricity supply business) to enable profiteers to enter into supply business in the urban- and revenue-potential areas without any investment or license,” said HL Verma, general secretary, HPSEBL.

“Private companies will prefer supplying power to high revenue industrial and commercial consumers, which will drive the state discom into bankruptcy,” he added.

Verma said it would abolish cross-subsidisation in tariff, which would result in costlier electricity to agriculture and domestic consumers. A proposal of director benefit transfer (DBT) to consumers by the state governments would also snatch away the rights of access to electricity for farmers and poor domestic consumers, he added.

He alleged that the Amendment Bill would result in unbridled privatisation of electricity in the distribution sector. “The Electricity Act, 2003, allowed privatisation of generation through de-licensing, resulting in steep hike in power purchase price. Now, the proposed Bill will pave the path for the privatisation of power distribution through de-licensing,” he said.