AIPEF appeal to electricity consumers to support employees opposing power privatisation
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ July 24,2025
All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF ) appeals to the electricity consumers to protect their own interest by supporting the employees who are fighting against privatization of the power sector. They should be aware of the false propaganda by government and corporate houses in favour of privatisation. The privatisation of the power sector will harm the consumers maximum.
As on today, the employees in Uttar Pradesh are fighting UPPCL over proposed privatisation of two distribution companies for the last 237 days continuously. In Maharashtra employees are fighting the privatisation being done through parallel licensing in electricity distribution.
Ashok Rao Patron said that the working group on power headed by N S Vasant , comprising eminent economists, engineers issued a statement 25 years ago that the Electricity Bill 2000, places the energy security of the country–a crucial element of national security— outside the purview of State direction or intervention, and at the mercy of international finance capital accountable to no one except to their own limited interests. The sole strategy of reform appears to be the dismemberment of the State Electricity Boards, and making distress sales of them to private operators.The prophecy of the statement has come true.
The Chandigarh electricity department with annual profit of Rs.200 crores was sold at a distress sale price of Rs. 871 crores to a private company . Within five months of privatization, the private firm has now sought tariff increase from the regulator.
The Odisha Government had in 2020, privatized the distribution system of the entire state despite earlier two failures. Now Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has started suo motu proceedings following shortcomings in the service provided by the private licensee.
Regulatory Commissions of various states have canceled franchise due to irregularities and poor service in Gaya, Samastipur and Bhagalpur in Bihar, Kanpur in UP, Gwalior, Sagar and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Aurangabad, Nagpur, and Jalgaon in Maharashtra,Ranchi and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
V K Gupta informed that the maximum power per unit rate for domestic consumers in Uttar Pradesh is Rs. 6.50 unit rate, while in the private sector it is Rs 15.71 per unit in Mumbai , Rs.9.21 per unit in Kolkata, Rs, 8 per unit in Delhi. This clearly establishes that privatization is a failed experiment and it inevitably results in higher tariffs and poor service.
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