Today, the private sector is the biggest owner of coal-fired power capacity with a share of 37 per cent. By December 2023, this share will drop to 32 per cent. State government entities with a projected share of 35 per cent will constitute the single-largest ownership.
On October 5, 2020, all employees of related to the electricity department of Uttar Pradesh threatened to boycott work. They were protesting against the proposed privatization of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (PuVVNL), one of the state government-owned distribution companies in the northern state.
According to the latest information available on the government portal PRAAPTI, the total dues of state government-owned power distribution companies (discoms) as of July 31, 2020 was nearly 37 per cent higher than the comparable level in 2019.
There is a striking similarity between the ongoing pandemic outbreak and the electricity supply chain. They both have touched every human life, impacted society and affected economic activity.
Production of electrical machinery has rebounded in June 2020, when compared to May 2020, as judged from recently-released official statistics.
Let us momentarily leave the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of human life and economy aside. One must admit that the pandemic has imparted several lessons ranging from how humans should lead their lives right up to how nations should be run.
In late April 2020, the Union Ministry of Power (MoP) released the much awaited Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which proposes many critical changes to the existing Electricity Act, 2003.
In his very influential book “Small is Beautiful,” first published in 1973, British economist E.F. Schumacher championed the cause of small and appropriate technologies. He argued that such technologies can empower the people more than so-called modern technologies that are not sustainable in the long run.
The Union finance minister in her Budget speech on February 1, 2020, acknowledged that taking electricity to every household was a major achievement. She obviously was referring to the Saubhagya scheme that was launched on September 25, 2017 and envisaged complete electrification of all households (rural and urban) by December 2018.
In a very significant recent development, Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) awarded the letter of intent to Tata Power as the successful bidder to own the licence for the distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha’s five circles, together constituting Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU).
