1.5 million powermen to go on strike against 'privatisation' policies

Powermen also up in arms against Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014

An estimated 1.5 million power sector workers and engineers would proceed on a two-day pan-India strike on 8th and 9th January against the ‘privatisation’ policies of the central and state governments.

Power-men are also against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014. The strike decision was taken at New Delhi on Saturday in a meeting under the banner of National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), an umbrella organisation of 1.5 million power workers & engineers in the public energy sector.

The organisation also decided to go on a flash strike if the Centre tried to pass the Bill in the Parliament, in the meantime, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) chairman Shailendra Dubey, who had also presided over the NCCOEEE meeting, told Business Standard.

The constituents of NCCOEEE include AIPEF, All India Federation of Power Diploma Engineers (AIFOPDE), Electricity Employees Federation of India (EEFI), All India Federation of Electricity Employees (AIFEE), Indian National Electricity Employees Federation (INEWF), All India Power Men Federation (AIPF) etc.

The draft amendment to Electricity Act, 2003 was labelled as “dangerous” and the changes are said to be aimed at benefitting big power companies. NCCOEEE alleged the draft amendment would spur a steep hike in power tariffs, making electricity unaffordable for the middle class, farmers and the poor.

Dubey said the Centre is trying to enact the Electricity Act, 2014 due to the inefficiency of state electricity boards (SEB) and accumulation of huge losses. The accumulated loss after five decades of ‘socioeconomic development service’ by SEBs was Rs 260 billion. “However, after 20 years of the so-called market-driven commercial service of all power distribution companies (discoms), the accumulated loss and debt burden in the energy sector has touched almost Rs 10 trillion, even after multiple tariff hikes,” he added.

NCCOEEE has sought to know the reason behind the Centre's failure to fulfil its promise of cheap power to all by boosting efficiency and competition among private entrepreneurs in the aftermath of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The power-men are of the opinion that the real motive of the Bill was to facilitate business for private enterprises in power sector distribution without making any investment. “They will be given profitable segments like sale of electricity to major industry, commercial establishments and railways, after splitting from un-remunerative loss-making segments like rural households and agricultural consumers.”

Dubey claimed that the Bill would segregate the distribution of power into carriage (the distribution network carrying power to consumers) and supply (the sale of electricity to consumers). “Basically, the government would lay down the wires that carry power to consumers, while private companies would execute the actual sale of electricity. This move is intended to separate out the more profitable aspects of distribution that can then easily be taken over by the private players.”