Resolution adopted at the All India Conference on Privatization in Electricity and Other Sectors organized by All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP) held in New Delhi on 15 April
We, the participants call upon all the workers, peasants and other electricity consumers all over the country to join the struggles of electricity workers against anti-worker, anti-peasant and anti-people privatization.
We, the participants demand that governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra and other states immediately stop all their plans to privatize electricity distribution, generation or transmission through any means.
Resolution on Privatization of Electricity
While the privatization of electricity began in 1991 by throwing open power generation to the private sector, attempts at privatization of power distribution have been intensified during the last few years. Nearly every party or alliance that has formed the government at the Centre or at state level has pursued electricity privatisation.
More than half the power generation is already in the hands of the biggest capitalist groups of the country. Their share is steadily growing as power generation through renewable energy is completely monopolised by the private sector. The result is that power rates are steadily rising in the country and the peak rate in a city like Mumbai has already touched Rs. 17 per unit. Power rates are being fixed so as to provide assured return on investment by the private sector.
Power generation monopolies now want the control of the other two segments of power also – transmission and distribution. Once the distribution is also privatized, consumers will be completely at the mercy of big monopolies.
The united opposition of electricity workers led by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), and the united opposition by kisan unions, did not allow the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 and its earlier versions to be passed. The bill would have thrown open distribution to the private sector without requiring any investment.
Despite opposition of workers, peasants and the people at large, the Central government has privatized power distribution in the union territory of Chandigarh. It has decided to privatize distribution in all the union territories.
Now a fresh set of attacks have been launched by both the Centre and state governments. The recent attacks include the UP
government’s plan to privatize two distribution companies, Rajasthan government’s proposal to privatize power generation and battery storage projects, Telangana government’s plan to privatise distribution in Hyderabad, the proposal to list distribution companies on stock market and sell their shares and the formation of a Group of Ministers from state governments by the Centre to facilitate privatization.
Another equally big attack of privatization has been launched through the smart meter project. This will make consumers pay for electricity in advance like prepaid mobile phone connections with the provision of automatic disconnection of power supply when the pre-paid money is exhausted. It will also render lakhs of workers jobless. Realizing the gravity of the attack, people, including peasants, in many parts of the country have organized themselves to oppose the installation of smart meters.
Privatization of distribution and installation of smart meters will lead to abolition of subsidised power supply to peasants and other needy sections of the society. Power rates will rise and make electricity unaffordable to a large number of people of the country.
Privatization of electricity is completely anti-worker, anti-peasant and anti-people and therefore not acceptable.
We, the participants of the All-India Conference on Privatization in Electricity and Other Sectors, organised by AIFAP (All India Forum Against Privatisation) on 15 April 2025 in New Delhi, believe that electricity is a basic necessity in today’s life. It is the government’s duty to ensure that it is available continuously to everyone in the country at an affordable rate. Turning electricity into a commodity for profiteering is not acceptable.
We, the participants extend our full support to the proposed All India strike of electricity employees on 26 June 2025 to oppose various attempts of privatization by the Central and state governments.
We, the participants call upon all the workers, peasants and other electricity consumers all over the country to join the struggles of electricity workers against anti-worker, anti-peasant and anti-people privatization.
We, the participants demand that governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra and other states immediately stop all their plans to privatize electricity distribution, generation or transmission through any means.
We, the participants demand that the Union government immediately halts all its attempts at privatization of electricity and stop incentivising state governments for carrying out privatisation in the name of ‘reforms’.
We, the participants demand the Central and state governments to make necessary capital available to upgrade distribution infrastructure to improve the quality of supply, reduce losses and bring down power rates.