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					</table><p>In a recent interaction with regulatory bodies from across the country, Union Minister for <a href="https://powermin.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Power</a> and <a href="https://mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New &amp; Renewable Energy</a> R.K. Singh emphasized the need for cost-reflective tariffs and compliance with the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules.</p>
<p>The meeting discussed crucial aspects of India&#8217;s power sector and the role of regulatory commissions.</p>
<p>One of the central points raised by the Minister was the necessity for regulators to ensure that tariffs cover the entire cost of services provided by distribution companies (DISCOMs).</p>
<p>He recalled the government&#8217;s decision to make energy audits mandatory, a move designed to identify areas of power leakage and theft, ultimately reducing Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&amp;C) losses.</p>
<p>He also stressed that the trajectories set for AT&amp;C loss reduction should be realistic to ensure attainable goals.</p>
<p>Singh also highlighted the importance of implementing pre-paid meters nationwide. This initiative is expected to enhance billing and collection efficiency for DISCOMs, ultimately contributing to their financial well-being and reducing their working capital requirements due to upfront payments by consumers.</p>
<p>Regarding subsidies, the Minister pointed out that while it is the prerogative of state governments to decide on subsidies for specific consumer categories, it is the responsibility of state commissions to ensure that DISCOMs receive the subsidies allocated by the state government. He reiterated that electricity is not free and must be paid for.</p>
<p>The Minister observed that since the previous meeting in October 2022, significant progress has been made in various areas, including the timely issuance of tariff and true-up orders for distribution companies, transmission licensees, and generating utilities.</p>
<p>Singh highlighted the importance of these developments in achieving cost-reflective tariffs, which are essential for the financial sustainability of the power sector.</p>
<p>While commending the regulators for their efforts to improve the functioning of the power system, the Minister expressed concern about the growing backlog of cases in some commissions and urged them to prioritize the resolution of long-pending cases.</p>
<p>Singh emphasized that the country&#8217;s development is contingent on a consistent and uninterrupted power supply, 24&#215;7. He highlighted that one of the key differentiators between developed and developing/under-developed countries is the presence of load shedding and blackouts in the latter category.</p>
<p>To address this issue, he drew attention to the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, which provide for penalties for gratuitous load shedding, and urged their strict implementation.</p>
<p>In August 2023, the Ministry of Power <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/ministry-strict-measures-subsidy-accounting-billing-discoms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amended</a> the Electricity Rules 2005, introducing measures to streamline states&#8217; accounting, reporting, billing, and subsidy payments to the DISCOMs.</p>
<p>In January this year, Singh <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/consumers-smart-meters-billed-on-actual-load-minister" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advised</a> states to ensure that no penalty is levied on any consumer for higher load discovered after the installation of prepaid smart meters. He asserted that the billing for consumers who have installed prepaid smart meters be done on an actual load basis.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Union Power Minister Calls on Regulators to Ensure Cost-Reflective Tariffs

<p>Union Minister for Road Transport &amp; Highways, Nitin Gadkari, in a webinar, said that India’s public transport is going to be modernized using fuels such as biofuel, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and electricity.</p>
<p>The union minister informed that Nagpur has already started the process of running 450 buses on biofuel. As many as 90 buses have already been converted, he added.</p>
<p>Gadkari was addressing the fourth International Association of Public Transport’s India Bus Seminar. In his address, Gadkari noted that state road transport undertakings (SRTUs) are incurring huge costs due to the rising cost of conventional fuels. He added that India needs to reduce its spending on importing crude oil and hydrocarbons. According to the minister, bus services incur losses to the tune of ₹600 million (~$8.1 million) each year, which can be minimized by switching to CNG.</p>
<p>The minister also added that efforts are being made to produce CNG from sewage water. He called upon state transport undertakings to adopt this model to save revenue. Gadkari further said that stakeholders should also focus on adopting other sources of CNG like paddy straw, which have multiple benefits to farmers, transport, environment, and economy.</p>
<p>Last year, it was <a href="https://mercomindia.com/govt-fuel-guidelines-promote-biofuels/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the review of guidelines for granting authorization to market transportation fuels. The policy was expected to ease the whole process and provide the necessary push to the companies for doing business and also open doors for the wider adoption of biofuels and other forms of alternative fuels.</p>
<p>In August 2019, the central government <a href="https://mercomindia.com/oil-firms-float-eoi-biodiesel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">released</a> an Expression of Interest floated by big national oil marketing companies like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum, for the procurement of biodiesel made from used cooking oil. He further stressed the fact that the government is working on a four-pronged strategy for promoting ethanol, 2-G ethanol, compressed biogas, and biodiesel.</p>
<p>In a country like India, where its agrarian sector fuels the overall economic growth, biofuels assume great significance in light of the country’s ambitious goals of doubling farmers’ income, import reduction, employment generation, and waste-to-wealth creation. Acknowledging the importance of abundant resources for biofuel in the country, the union cabinet approved the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/cabinet-approves-national-policy-biofuels/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Policy on Biofuels 2018</a>.</p>
<p>Image credit: By A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace) &#8211; <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48098526" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Own work, FAL</a></p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rahul-nair/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rahul Nair</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p>Rahul is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before entering the world of renewables, Rahul was head of the Gujarat bureau for The Quint. He has also worked for DNA Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad Mirror. Hailing from a banking and finance background, Rahul has also worked for JP Morgan Chase and State Bank of India. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rahul-nair/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rahul Nair.</a></p>
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Nagpur to Run 450 Buses on Biofuel

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