The Ministry of Power published the draft Electricity (Amendement) Bill 2020 along with statement of reasons for public comments. The 18 page document mentions only the particular amendments that the bill would like to introduce. To understand the implications of the proposed amendments, assess potential issues with lack of legal clarity and to respond to the proposals in an effective manner, it is important to read the proposed amendments along with the prevailing act.

Towards this end, Prayas (Energy Group) prepared this document which can help one read the amendments in the context of the prevailing act. All proposed amendments are marked in red in the version of the Electricity Act 2003 (along with amendments upto June 2007) available on the website of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The document was prepared for our internal understanding. As many civil society organisations, consumer groups, journalists, and researchers want to understand the proposed amendments better, in the context of the Electricity Act 2003, we are sharing it widely.

While effort has been made to ensure that the document is error free, inadvertant typographical and reproduction errors are possible. We request you use this only as a guide to place the proposed amendments in context. Further, we strongly advise referring to the prevailing act and the proposed amendments as they are.

We hope you find the document useful in responding to the Ministry of Power’s proposed amendments. The document as well as the proposed amendments are attached below. The last date for submission of public comments is 5th June 2020.