New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI) Power engineers’ body AIPEF on Thursday opposed the proposed national electricity policy, saying it is against the interests of consumers, farmers and power sector employees.
On
Tuesday, the Ministry of Power released a draft policy on electricity and invited stakeholder comments. The ministry listed multiple objectives for the draft NEP 2026, aimed at addressing issues such as non-cost-reflective tariffs and high cross-subsidisation, among others.
In a statement, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said the move promotes rapid privatisation of the power sector and is against the interests of consumers, farmers and power sector employees.
“The policy allows private companies to use power distribution networks built with public funds by state DISCOMs, while the responsibility of maintenance, losses and system stability remains with public utilities,” Shailendra Dubey, the Chairman of AIPEF, said.
The association also alleged that exempting private companies from universal supply obligation will enable them to supply power only in profitable urban and industrial areas, abandoning rural, agricultural and poor consumers which by default will become responsibility of government discoms.
The new policy will lead to sharp increase in electricity tariffs, weakening of subsidised power supply to farmers, higher cost of irrigation and adverse impact on agriculture increased burden on poor and middle-class consumers due to expensive and unreliable power, AIPEF said. PTI ABI ABI MR
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