Massive protests have erupted across Punjab against the central government's draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, with power employee associations and farmer unions leading the charge against what they term as a roadmap to privatization that would ultimately lead to higher electricity tariffs for consumers.
What Sparked the Protests?
The Ministry of Power released the draft legislation on October 9, 2025 for public feedback, seeking to overhaul the Electricity Act of 2003. While the original deadline for feedback was November 8, it was later extended to November 30, 2025. The Centre maintains these amendments are essential to fix long-standing issues in the power sector, but critics argue they would severely weaken public sector power utilities.
Major organizations including the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), the Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers Association (PSEBEA), and farmer unions like Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have been protesting for weeks. They point out that similar proposals in 2014, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 were withdrawn after nationwide resistance.
Key Concerns About the Electricity Bill
The protesting organizations have raised several critical concerns about the proposed legislation. Section 14 of the bill, which allows multiple distribution licenses in the same area using the same network, is particularly contentious. Critics warn this would enable private players to cherry-pick high-paying industrial and commercial consumers, leaving public DISCOMs with low-revenue rural and domestic users.
This could severely erode cross-subsidies and potentially push up household and agricultural tariffs. Under Section 43(4), consumers with demand above 1 MW could shift to private suppliers, further cutting into DISCOM revenues while still requiring them to maintain backup contract demand.
PSEBEA cautions that private firms would not be bound by universal service obligations and could refuse unprofitable consumers. The association also warns that separating content and carriage without an independent distribution system operator would create conflicts of interest and overwhelm understaffed State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs).
Impact on Punjab's Subsidy Model
The proposed five-year phase-out of cross-subsidies has triggered major concern in Punjab, where agriculture consumers receive free tubewell power and households get 300 units per month free irrespective of income. KMM coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher claims the reforms would end cross-subsidies within five years, enabling private players to enter the sector and weaken public utilities.
PSEBEA highlights that despite 22 years under the Electricity Act 2003, distribution losses have jumped from Rs 26,000 crore to Rs 6.9 lakh crore, contradicting the Centre's claims of reform success. They also criticized amendments to renewable purchase obligations (RPOs), saying low penalties would freeze India's carbon market by pricing CO₂ at just US$5–7 per tonne.
Despite the intensity of protests, the Punjab government has not issued any public response. SKM has urged the state to convene a special Vidhan Sabha session to pass a resolution against the Bill, while PSEBEA has asked the government to clearly articulate its stand before the Centre.
The All India Power Engineers' Federation has announced a nationwide protest on November 27 against the Bill, while in Uttar Pradesh, power employees have been protesting for nearly 100 days against proposed privatization of the state electricity board.
