New Delhi: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Thursday strongly opposed the National Electricity Policy 2026, alleging that the policy promotes rapid privatisation of the power sector and works against the interests of consumers, farmers and power sector employees. In a statement, AIPEF said the policy, issued by the Central government on January 20, allows private companies to access power distribution networks built with public funds by state-owned distribution companies, while leaving the responsibility of maintenance, losses and system stability with public utilities.
“This amounts to privatisation of profits and socialisation of losses,” the federation said.
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AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey urged that the ongoing Chintan Shivir of power ministers should also discuss the damage that privatisation, the Electricity Amendment Bill and the National Electricity Policy would cause to farmers, poor consumers and employees.
The federation said exempting private companies from Universal Supply Obligation would allow them to supply power only to profitable urban and industrial areas, while rural, agricultural and poor consumers would be left to government-owned distribution companies by default.
According to AIPEF, this would lead to a “sharp increase in electricity tariffs,” weakening of subsidised power supply to farmers, higher irrigation costs and an adverse impact on agriculture. It also warned of an increased burden on poor and middle-class consumers due to “expensive and unreliable power.”
The engineers’ body said the policy would have an adverse impact on power sector employees, threatening job security and leading to increased contractualisation and retrenchment. It also warned of dilution of service conditions and said ignoring experienced engineers and employees would weaken the power system.
AIPEF demanded that the government immediately withdraw the National Electricity Policy 2026 and retain electricity as a public service rather than a profit-driven commodity.
It also called for any new policy to be framed only after “meaningful consultation with states, consumers, farmers and employees”.
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The federation warned that if the policy is imposed, power engineers and employees across the country would be “compelled to launch a nationwide agitation”. India’s draft NEP 2026 signals a decisive withdrawal of long-standing mechanisms in the power sector, proposing automatic tariff revisions, curbs on cross-subsidies and a phased end to distribution monopolies.