RK Singh: ‘Opening up competition in discom key to efficiency, nearly all states on board’

Nearly all states are on board with the government’s intention to open up the power distribution sector to competition through the Electricity Amendment Bill, a move that will ensure that consumers get a choice and service providers have to compete with each other, Union Power Minister R K Singh told The Indian Express.

Singh added the opening up of competition in power distribution was the best solution to the efficiency issues faced by the sector, which is clearly the weakest link in India’s power sector and that is fundamental to the financial viability of the upstream generation and distribution sectors. Issues such as poor billing, collection efficiency and high receivables from state governments have led to state-owned discoms (distribution companies) consistently struggling with high losses,