IAC Webinar on Deconstructing the Proposed Amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003 on May 21, 2020 New Delhi
On May 21, IAC organized a webinar along with Hemant Sahai Advocates (HSA Advocates), USAID and USISPF on Deconstructing the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act of 2003. The webinar speakers included Hemant Sahai, Founding Partner at HSA Advocates; Rakesh Nath, Former Chairman of Central Electricity Authority (CEA); Parag Sharma, Founder and CEO of O2 Power and Rohit Modi, CEO, SB Energy. The webinar was moderated by Shubhranshu Patnaik, Senior Advisor at USAID’S GTG-RISE Initiative and Partner with Deloitte India.
There were over 750 registrations for the webinar of which over 350 joined the discussion. Speakers explored some key takeaways from the Draft Electricity Bill, 2020 and discussed the way it might impact the segments of the electricity sector and sequentially, providing new investment opportunities for the private sector. The panellists encouraged questions from the audience. The outcome of the webinar was to present a list of suggestions to the Indian Ministry of Power.
During the webinar, a presentation was delivered on key amendments and the changes implemented in the National Renewable Energy policy and several functional amendments such as payment security, time limit for adoption or tariff and distribution sub-licensee and franchisee. During the ensuing discussion, panellists deliberated on the concept, difference and issues on the distribution sub-licensee and distribution franchisee, National Tariff Policy, and the roles of regulatory authority and the adjudicating authority.
Key take aways included creation of an appropriate framework to encourage private investment; getting the future and derivative markets aligned and integrated with the electricity act for enforcing the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) either by law or by incentivizing and disincentivizing, the appropriate market forces need to be determined and aligned; any contractual dispute need to be defined correctly whether it’d be considered related to a tariff, or as a change in the contract; the clauses related to electricity contract enforcement authority, distribution sub-licensee and concerns of the renewable generator, and payment security need to be addressed, classified, and sanctioned.
