The Federal Executive of the All India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) has opposed the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in its entirety and demanded its immediate withdrawal, while opposing any provision permitting privatisation and fragmentation of the power sector.
Any reform in the power sector must prioritise affordability, accessibility, reliability and public accountability rather than privatisation and profit maximisation, the AIPEF said.
“The Electricity (Amendment) Bill is not a reform, but a privatisation measure and an attempt to corporatise and privatise generation, transmission and distribution entirely,” said Shailendra Dubey, Chairman, AIPEF.
The meeting opposed multiple distribution licensees in the same area using the same network, all provisions that facilitate privatisation, cherry-picking of consumers, weakening of public utilities and transfer of public assets to private interests. The power sector is facing deep structural uncertainties arising from unstable policy directions, aggressive privatisation trends, and inadequately planned energy transitions, the Federal Executive of the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) claimed.
VK Gupta, media adviser, said the federal council meeting of AIPEF was chaired by Shailendra Dubey and attended by 21 state constituents, including Punjab. Woman engineers from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Odisha and Ladakh participated in the meeting. Rathnakar Rao, secretary general, AIPEF; Basavanna, president; along with senior office-bearers of AIPEF, addressed the gathering.
The AIPEF opposed any unilateral attempt of tabling of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament.
The Bill seeks to permit multiple distribution licensees in the same area using the same publicly funded distribution network under the guise of competition and consumer choice. The provision will enable private companies to cherry-pick high-paying industrial and commercial consumers, while leaving out public discoms with socially obligated consumers, including domestic, agricultural and rural consumers, it claimed.
