'Good governance needed in energy sector'

In an effort to redcue the drastic shortfall between supply and demand in the power sector, industry experts have called for good governance and greater transparency and participation from regulators.

Speaking at a workshop organised by World Bank in assocation with Bangalore Chamber of Indsutry and Commerce (BCIC) on energy efficiency in the power sector, S L Rao, chairman, Institute of Social and Economic Change said: "We need good governance in all sectors of energy. Government should put in place a common legal framework for all the regulatory bodies with common national selection and accountability."

He added that "for greater transparency and participation, the regulatory process must use all methods such as hearing, consultation papers, informal consultants, draft orders and regulate and monitor the quality of supply and services from the beginning."

He added that electricity regulators must work in co-ordination with environmental regulators to ensure compliance through an appropriate system of incentives and disincentives.

A K Tripathy, director general, Central Power Research Institute said: "The obvious steps to conserve energy is largely common sense. Conservation should be assisted by technology such as sensors, automation, control and product improvement. New concepts, creativity and innovative applications should be used to conserve energy."

In addition to this, Tripathy called for the need to overcome inherent systems deficiency such as inadequate capacity addition, high transmission and distribution loss, high auxilliary power stations, low efficiency of generating stations and ageing and deterioration of old plans.