Central and state power regulators recently discussed what needs to be done to make competition in retail sale of power a reality for the citizen.

The Union power ministry had recently proposed amending the Electricity Act of 2003 to separate the supply and retail-wire businesses. The Forum of Regulators (FoR), representing the central and state electricity regulatory commissions, met to debate the hurdles in implementation. Pramod Deo, chairman of the central body told Business Standard: “In the United Kingdom, consumers can choose their power supplier. On similar lines, if the wire and supply businesses are separated, such a choice could be given here, too. During the meeting, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) made a presentation on the proposal.