Amendments to the Electricity Act

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposals for amendment in Electricity Act, 2003 on 10th December, 2014 as contained in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014. The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19th December, 2014. This was referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy and the committee has submitted its report to the Parliament on 7th May, 2015. This was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

 

The Minister further stated that the amendments proposed in Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014 seeks to end the monopoly of power distribution companies by segregating the carriage (distribution sector/network) from the content (electricity supply business) in the power sector by introducing multiple supply licensees so as to bring in further competition and efficiency in the distribution sector by giving choice to the consumers, the Minister added.