Amit Shah to head group of ministers to examine the proposed National Tariff Policy

On January 05, 2020 the minister of Home Affairs (MoHA) Shri Amit Shah will head the Group of Ministers (GOM) to discuss and examine the proposed National Tariff Policy 2016. Before being sent to Shri Amit Shah, the draft policy was first sent for approval to the cabinet secretariat. The policy if implemented, will bring a major reform in the stressed power sector but is opposing by the state govts and discoms (Distribution Companies) due to clauses like penalties for load shedding.Group of ministers(GOM) list:

• The inter-ministerial group will have 10 ministers comprising of 8 ministers in the cabinet rank and 2 ministers with independent charge.
• Some of the GoM include Defence minister Rajnath Singh; finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman; road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari; coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi; women and child development minister Smriti Irani; agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
• The 2 ministers with independent charge in the GoM include power and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh and shipping minister Mansukh L Mandaviya.

Draft policy proposals:

i.Penalty to discoms: In the proposed draft amendments to the National Tariff Policy 2016, the central govt has included provisions to impose penalties by appropriate commission on the discoms for power cuts other than force majeure conditions or technical faults.

ii.Providing Subsidy: The draft policy has also proposed to give any subsidy through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), i.e., transferring the subsidy directly to the customers’ account.

iii.Industrial cross-subsidy limit: Cross subsidies on industries should not exceed 20%. 

iv.State electricity regulators limit: State electricity regulators and Joint Electricity Regulatory Commissions should not allow discoms to pass through transmission, Aggregate Technical and commercial (AT&C) losses beyond 15% in consumer tariffs. Simplification of tariff categories and rationalisation of the retail electricity tariffs have also been called for.

About Ministry of Home Affairs:
Founded- 15 August 1947.
Headquarters- New Delhi.
Minister of State(MoS)- Gangapuram Kishan Reddy (Constituency- Secunderabad, Telangana).