Prayas (Energy Group) convened a two-day experience sharing workshop on 3rd and 4th September, 2018, at ASCI, Hyderabad. The workshop was a coming together of 58 individuals working in the electricity sector- NGOs, grass-root organisations, policy think tanks, and consumer activists, representing around 12 states in India. A similar workshop was convened last year as well which focused on state level discussions, highlighting relevant issues in the state context.

The idea of this workshop was to share experiences, discuss commonalities, differences, challenges, and strategies used in various states to engage with the sector. However, this year, there were also more in-depth discussions on common issues and themes from the state experiences. With this consideration, this year’s workshop was structured around the following themes: 

  • AT&C losses, agricultural consumption and subsidies 
  • Power Procurement 
  • Quality of Supply and Service 
  • Improving effectiveness of regulatory processes 
  • Future of distribution companies 

A brief summary of the rich and detailed discussions at the workshop are available in the workshop report. As part of the deliberations organised around these themes, participants also came together and signed a joint statement on ‘Urgent Actions for better electricity service delivery’. 

During the proceedings of the workshop, each participant gained more ideas for continuing engagement with the sector in their own areas of work with an informal network for support.  Participants agreed that it would be useful to organise more such events over a period of time.