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Tamil Nadu Prime Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevail over the Ministry of Energy to suspend proposed amendments to the Electricity Law until they were fully discussed with state governments after the COVID-19 pandemic subsided. He reiterated that the State was committed to providing free electricity supply to farmers and that the bill could affect this policy.
“As some of the provisions of the amendment bill are also likely to put the general public in difficulties, especially during this period of crisis, I think this is not the right time to introduce such broad amendments to Electricity Acts,” said.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was released to the media, Mr. Palaniswami said the proposed amendments required detailed consultations with state governments and other interested parties. “I wish to raise some issues of utmost concern to the Government of Tamil Nadu that are directly related to the independent functioning of the electricity sector in the State,” said Mr. Palaniswami.
Recalling his letter from November 2018, the Chief Minister said that the Electricity Amendment Bill had removed certain powers from the State Government and at the same time sought to introduce significant changes to the existing Electricity Law, such as separating transportation and content in the distribution sector, which would make energy companies in the public sector totally unfeasible. He noted that the proposed new bill sought to privatize not only the energy supply to the final consumer through franchisees, but also to privatize the entire distribution network, which would be very detrimental to public services and against the public interest.
“In addition, despite our strong reservations, the new bill continues to have provisions for the Direct Transfer of Benefits (DBT) of subsidies granted to consumers, particularly in the agricultural and domestic sectors,” he said.
Mr. Palaniswami said that he had already pointed out in his previous letter that there would be serious difficulties in implementing Direct Transfer of Benefits in the electricity sector and that this would be against the interest of our farmers and domestic consumers. “My Government’s policy has been that our farmers must receive free energy and that the State Government must decide the form of payment of said subsidy. I also previously pointed out that the proposed amendment bill seeks to take power away from the State Government by deciding to establish the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, which goes against the federal principles of the Constitution, “said Mr. Palaniswami .
The Chief Minister said in the bill that the same provisions were being retained, but also proposed to establish a parallel authority, namely the Central Electric Contract Compliance Authority to handle all contractual matters, which until now were treated by the Central. and the state electricity regulatory commissions.
“This would unnecessarily dilute the authority of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions and needs to be removed. You know that all states are currently busy fighting the Coronavirus pandemic and therefore will require time to give their detailed response to the proposed amendments, ”he said.
“At the same time, any hasty amendment to the Electricity Law can create difficulties for public energy services, which are going through a serious financial crisis due to the current pandemic,” he said.
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