Gom Clears Electricity Bill Of 2001

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on power today cleared the draft Electricity bill, 2001 and it would be introduced during the current monsoon session of Parliament, power minister Suresh Prabhu said today.

The bill is likely to be placed before the Cabinet on August 16 for approval, official sources said.

The bill seeks to free generation from licensing and provides for open access option to captive power plants, allowing them to sell surplus power directly to bulk consumers, sources said. New generation projects would not require technical economic clearnace from the Electricity Authority and would only have to intimate the concerned state electricity regulatory commission (SERC) and the CEA in the required format about the technical specifications and cost.

Transmission and distribution companies, however, will have to obtain a licence from the respective SERCs. The bill provides for formulation of a national tariff policy for power reducing cross-subsidation in a phased manner, sources said.

Besides Prabhu, the GoM was attended by finance minister Yashwant Sinha, planning commission deputy chairman KC Pant, law minister Arun Jaitley and minister of state for planning and programme implementation Arun Shourie.