Haryana has decided to initiate power distribution reforms by divesting 51 per cent stake of its electricity board to the private sector. The state will be carved up into four distribution zones.
Haryana is the third state after Rajasthan and Orissa where the government has decided to corporatise its electricity board as put forth in the power regulatory bill. The bill also requires states to rationalise power tariffs.
The Haryana government is planning to unbundle the existing vertically integrated state electricity board _ generation, transmission and distribution _ into separate entities.
Distribution will be handled by different entities, one for each zone, generation by independent power producers as well state-owned power stations, while transmission will be retained by the government.
The Haryana government has appointed a consultancy firm to undertake the operation of inviting bids for distribution that includes price valuation of the distribution zones. Haryana will also create a state regulatory commission to oversee, guide and fix technical and financial parameters of the operations.
While Orissa is completely unbundling its power sector, the Rajasthan government plans to hive off distribution to the private sector while retaining generation.
Orissa has already initiated power sector reforms that include creation of a regulatory body and divestment in power-generating projects.
The state has also completed the process of inviting pre-qualification bids for distribution. The Rajasthan government plans to divide the state into seven zones, with the government assuming minority stakes in the all of them.
