Power sector employees to go on strike on March 10 against new Electricity Bill

Power sector engineers’ body AIPEF on Friday said that 27 lakh workers associated with it will boycott work on March 10 to protest against a proposed legislation aimed at changing the country’s electricity distribution framework.

There is strong resentment among power employees and engineers over the Government’s plan to table the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 in Parliament, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said in a statement.

The draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 has provisions for allowing multiple electricity distributors to operate in the same area using shared infrastructure. The bill also provides for cost-reflective tariffs while protecting subsidised consumers and eliminating cross-subsidy for industrial consumers within five years.

According to AIPEF, nearly 2.7 million power employees and engineers across the country will boycott work and come out on the streets on March 10. The decision was taken in an online meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), which was chaired by Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of the AIPEF.

NCCOEEE has also written to the power ministry, demanding that the “anti-farmer, anti-consumer and anti-employee Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 should not be introduced in Parliament”, AIPEF said. Dubey said in the statement that the power ministry earlier invited comments from stakeholders on the Bill, and all federations, trade unions and organizations associated with the power sector across the country had opposed it.

He said that the comments of stakeholders have neither been made public nor the minutes of the consultations have been released. Instead, on January 30, the power ministry constituted a working group and included All India Discoms Association, an organisation that openly supported the privatisation of the power sector, he said.

He added that including such an organisation for finalising the legislation makes the entire process biased and unconstitutional.

According to the AIPEF statement, NCCOEEE will hold a meeting on March 9 in Delhi and invite Members of Parliament from all political parties to share the concerns over the adverse impact of the Bill on farmers, poor consumers and power employees.

MPs will be urged to oppose the Bill in Parliament, it said, adding that all affiliated federations have asked their members to prepare for the boycott of work on March 10.