A 3-day National Workshop on ‘Electricity Act 2003 for NGOs’ was held at Pune from July 26-28, 2004. This was jointly organised by Prayas (Energy Group, Pune), Centre for Public Policy (Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore) and Utility Regulation Research Centre (Xavier Institute of Management-Bhubaneshwar). In all, fifty-four representatives from a broad range of forty civil society organizations from ten states participated in this workshop.

Workshop was organised in five sections – 1) Power sector basics; 2) Elaboration and impact analysis of Electricity Act; 3) State presentations from 8 States; 4) Expert comments on specific aspects of Electricity Act and 5) Discussions on way forward. The workshop concluded by drafting a joint statement on Electricity Act. Joint statement called for the articulation of a clear process for the review of the Electricity Act, which includes a clear timeline, clear mechanisms for balanced participation and feedback on the results of participation.