The Ministry of Power has published the Draft National Electricity Policy (NEP) 2026 for public comments from stakeholders. Several proposals in the draft reflect recent developments in the sector, provide directional clarity, and are broadly reflective of the Central Government's priorities for the power sector.

We welcome the provisions related to timely cost recovery for DISCOMs — particularly index-linked automatic tariff revision, targets for solarisation of agricultural feeders backed by storage, and the policy push for discouraging net metering beyond 5 kW. We also support the proposed parity between renewable and thermal generation for deviation settlement and demand-side management frameworks, as well as the emphasis on market development, cybersecurity, energy storage, and reducing regulatory and procedural barriers for open access and captive consumption. There are also major enabling provisions related to unbundling of LDC and STU functions and prescribing competitive bidding for all transmission projects. These provisions signal a meaningful move towards a balanced risk-reward framework for sector development, and reflect a welcome policy and institutional focus on grid integration and transition preparedness in an increasingly complex sector. Our comments and suggestions are towards providing more clarity and addressing challenges which could arise with specific provisions while also highlighting some areas such as consumer empowerment, electricity safety and strengthening regulatory process which also require emphasis in the policy.