Energy board to draft integrated policy

NEW DELHI: The government is planning to set up a national energy board which will coordinate with all the energy-related ministries and evolve a national integrated energy policy. This will lay down a road map for the energy sector and a vision statement on which the policy can be framed.
Speaking at a session on energy update at the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum and CII, NK Singh, member planning commission, said: “We have to deal with the issues in the energy sector with an integrated approach. The proposed energy board will coordinate with all the ministries and will look into issues relating to costs, fuel, demand supply etc.� The national task force on energy is currently working out enabling fiscal breaks to improve the investment climate in the sector. It is also addressing issues regarding contractual obligations, financing and lending patterns and is evolving a road map .
Mentioning the transition phase in the energy sector, he said that the time has come to carry the transitional regime to its logical end. “Only then will investments come in from the private and foreign investors.�
On the petroleum sector Mr Singh came down heavily on the government for not paying the subsidies upfront through the budget, “ Singh said. A system has been put in place by the government and the subsidies should be paid from the budget.
Investments are not as forthcoming in this sector because of the opaqueness of the regulatary bill. It is not only the early passage of the bill but it is also to do with the quality of the bill.

“What investors would want to know is whether there would be autonomy for the regulator or micro-management,� Singh said. He also said that pricing of gas will play an important role as it is expected to be one of the important fuels in the near future.
On the power sector Mr Singh said that the new Electricity Act is a watershed development in this sector. For one, it has brought in open access and has completely deregulated generation, distribution and transmission. “The government had made two major false starts ten years back- emphasised on only generation without doing much in the distribution sector and secondly provide special guarantees to a set of fast track projects,� Mr Singh said.
The other speakers in the session included C P Jain, CMD of NTPC, M A Pathan resident director Tata Services Ltd, M S Ramachandran chairman IOC, Nigel Shaw CEO British Gas India , and Surya Sethi of the planning commission.
The special guest speakers at the session included N K Sigh and the deputy foreign minister of Iran Md H Adeli. The session was jointly chaired by Subir Raha, CMD of ONGC and Michael J Roux, vice-chairman Citigroup, Australia.