24-10-02 India ’s state and federal regulators want to examine the country’s Electricity Bill to ensure that the provision in them do not pose any risks of electricity supply being overtly expensive to consumers. The central and state regulators, which includes 19 State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), have decided to constitute a committee of regulators to study the provisions of the bill.
CERC chairman AK Basu said that the committee of regulators would study in detail the provisions of the bill and submit its report to the select committee of Parliament, which is attached to the power ministry. The bill deals in detail about the provisions, powers and functions of Central and state regulatory commissions.

On the availability-based tariff (ABT) order passed by CERC, which is expected to have huge financial implications for National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Basu refused to comment, saying the matter was subjudice as the NTPC challenged the commission order in the high court.
Moreover, he was quoted as saying that he would not look into any old still ongoing cases, till a new review petition was filed by NTPC.

Speaking on the regulatory issues, Basu said that regulation does not always mean increase in tariff but ‘rationalization of tariff’.
“Tariff setting is not just tariff increase but can also mean reduction, achieved through reducing cross-subsidization and by reducing the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses”, he added. Commenting on the independence of a regulator, Basu said “liberty is not a license”.
“So independence does not mean that you do what you like, it should be exercised with caution. A regulator has the big responsibility in this respect”, he said.

The Electricity Bill also talks about setting up of an Appellate Tribunal for Electricity. This tribunal will be above the CERC and the SERCs and will address all appeals against the orders of the central and state regulatory commissions in the power sector.
Under the present legislation, the central regulator has no control over state regulators as a result of which there is no uniformity of regulation in the country.