The Electricity Bill 2003 was passed by the Lok Sabha on April 9 after being tabled in its current forum on April 6, thus ensuring no debate in the country. While all the old ills of this legislation which has been on the anvil for the last 3 years remain, some more new ones have been added ensuring that the electricity sector faces a disaster in the near future.

As the Congress and the BJP have similar views on the legislation, only cosmetic changes can be expected from the Rajya Sabha. Before we look at the underlying "vision" of this piece of legislation and its implications for the country, particularly the rural sector, let us briefly examine some clauses of the Bill which can only have come from minds of persons who look upon all consumers as potential criminals.

As the Congress and the BJP have similar views on the legislation, only cosmetic changes can be expected from the Rajya Sabha. Before we look at the underlying "vision" of this piece of legislation and its implications for the country, particularly the rural sector, let us briefly examine some clauses of the Bill which can only have come from minds of persons who look upon all consumers as potential criminals.

TREATING CONSUMERS AS POTENTIAL CRIMINALS

This Bill, by virtue of clause 126-6, and clause 135, allows an officer of the government or a private "licensee" to break open any premises, seize any material or equipment, take away accounts and documents on not only suspicion of theft of electricity but also its "unauthorised use" and "likely to be used unauthorisedly". In other words, a private licensee has more powers under this Act than the police, and the tax authorities. And to cap this draconian power against consumers, they are completely indemnified against any action. The POTA mindset continues with government. Even the need of the private licensee is seen to override any right of the individual.

This may be contrasted with the provision of penalties for the licensee. The licensee, can cause havoc in the system by not acceding to the directions of Load Despatch Centres. The maximum penalty for this is Rs 15 lakh for inter state lincesees, and Rs 5 lakh for the state licensees. The consumers obviously do not count in this Bill. For the consumer, if any demand is made on him through a bill, he has to pay the amount immediately before he/she can appeal. And if he/she does not, even his/her property can be sold as electricity dues are now to be treated as revenue defaults.

THE BILL ENSURES PROFITEERING

Let us now take up the underlying assumptions of the Bill and its distinct difference with Electricity Act of 1948, which was piloted in the constituent Assembly by Dr Ambedkar. In the earlier Act, it was recognised that Electricity was a vital necessity for agriculture, industry and domestic consumption and should be provided at the lowest possible cost. It should not be used for profiteering. It was also recognised that it would not be possible to extend rural electrification through existing private utilities and therefore put the task of rural electrification on the state leading to the formation of the State Electricity Boards. The current Bill proposes that electricity should be regarded purely as a commercial, market driven activity with regulators ensuring removal of cross subsidies and creating the market. For rural electrification, it is no longer anybody's baby. To add a sop for the rural sector, it has been delicensed for NGO's, co-operatives, Panchayats etc. They can now become self-reliant while the government looks after Reliance.

The key to the Act, and this is where the BJP and the Congress are singing the same tune is "open access", that is the generators should have the right to supply electricity to any bulk consumer or distributing company using the transmission system. Thus, the generating sector, the transmission system and the distribution areas are to be seperated. The costs are supposed to come down as the generators "compete", while the transmission companies get "wheeling" charges and the distribution companies make profit by selling the generators' power to the consumer.

Again, I am not going to discuss the myth about competition bringing down prices. Apart from this not happening any where reforms have been tried, the central argument that no competition can take place if there is a scarcity has yet to be answered by the proponents of competition. The key issue I will address here is under this open access, who looks after the integrity and balance of the electrical system? The Bill is totally silent on this question.