Soon you may get to choose your power supplier, metering agency

The forum of power regulators led by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) might soon finalise a comprehensive roll-out plan for unbundling the power sector.

The forum of power regulators led by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) might soon finalise a comprehensive roll-out plan for unbundling the power sector.

Unbundling if implemented would give the consumer the ability to choose his power supplier.

As per the scheme, being worked out, a new intermediary company, between the power generator on the one end and the distribution and network operator and the supply licensees on the other, could be proposed.

“The functions of the intermediary company which has to be detailed could be government-owned and can take over the existing power purchase agreements,” said Sambitosh Mohapatra, partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers India, which was tasked by the forum of regulators to prepare the roadmap.

“The incumbent and retail supply licences will get their share of power from it. Over time, supply licensees would be able to procure power at competitive rates leading to possibility of lower tariffs.”

The rollout plan, which was presented before the regulators earlier this month, could be finalised in the next few days before it is put before the Parliamentary standing committee on energy.

Since power is a state subject, the roll-out would happen separately for each state. For this purpose states would be categorised on the basis of three parameters: whether they are power surplus, the price of power in the state and the losses made by the discoms