The Central Electricity Authority and the Regulatory Commissions

In one line

One technical body that plans and sets standards, and two tiers of regulator that license, price and adjudicate, with the renewable obligation buried in the State Commission's function list.

The Authority: what it is

Section 70(1) creates the Central Electricity Authority to exercise the functions assigned under the Act, and section 70(2) continues the Authority established under section 3 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948.

Its composition is not more than fourteen Members including the Chairperson, of whom not more than eight are full-time, appointed by the Central Government. Section 70(5) requires Members of ability, integrity and standing with knowledge and experience of engineering, finance, commerce, economics or industrial matters, and requires at least one Member from each of four categories: engineering specialising in design, construction, operation and maintenance of generating stations; engineering specialising in transmission and supply; applied research in the field of electricity; and applied economics, accounting, commerce or finance.

The Chairperson is the Chief Executive, the headquarters are at Delhi, decisions are by majority with a casting vote, and no act or proceeding is invalidated merely by a vacancy or defect in constitution.

Section 70(6) is the one to notice. The Chairperson and all Members hold office during the pleasure of the Central Government. The Authority is an expert arm of Government, not an independent tribunal, and the contrast with the Commissions is deliberate.

Section 71 forbids a Member to have any share or interest, in his own name or otherwise, in any company, body corporate, association or firm engaged in the business of generation, transmission, distribution and trading of electricity or fuel for the generation thereof, or in the manufacture of electrical equipment.

Section 72 deals with its staff. The Authority may appoint a Secretary and such other officers and employees as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions, on such terms as to salary, remuneration, fee, allowance, pension, leave and gratuity as it fixes in consultation with the Central Government, the appointment of the Secretary being subject to the Central Government's approval.

That proviso is small and telling. Even the Authority's own Secretary is a Central Government appointment in substance. Compare section 91, under which the Appropriate Commission appoints its Secretary and specifies its staff with the Appropriate Government's approval, and the same difference of degree appears: the Authority is inside the Government, the Commission is beside it.

Section 73: the Authority's functions, and the resource sentence

Fifteen functions, and clause (a) is the one this syllabus is about.

Clause (a): to advise the Central Government on matters relating to the national electricity policy, to formulate short-term and perspective plans for development of the electricity system, and to co-ordinate the activities of the planning agencies for the optimal utilisation of resources to subserve the interests of the national economy and to provide reliable and affordable electricity for all consumers.