Background

Policies and regulations to promote renewable and energy efficiency are already in place in India, issued by both Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (CERC and SERCs), but the level of implementation varies widely and support from utilities is often weak.
Civil society has the potential to act as a locomotive, both pressuring and supporting regulators in implementing RE/EE programmes.

Purpose

To empower civil society and consumer groups to participate in both state and federal level regulatory processes in India, and to demand ambitious EE / RE regulations, coupled with their effective implementation by utilities.

Main Activities

• Engage with electricity regulators and stakeholders in at least 3 different states (including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, or Tamil Nadu) to review state-level RE and EE programmes
• Determine why EE/ RE programs have succeeded or failed, using indicators from the WR-Prayas Electricity Governance Initiative (EGI) toolkit as a guide for the analysis
• Propose new approaches and guidelines to create demand from civil society for EE/ RE in regulation
• Engage representatives of the CERCs and the SERCs involved in the state level initiatives on how to implement the recommendations, and other interested SERCs to explore how to operationalize these recommendations
• Engage consumer groups and local and national media in India to build awareness of the opportunities to improve practice
• Facilitate an exchange between electricity regulators in India, Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand to share experiences in promoting RE/EE

Expected Impact

• Improved SERC understanding of the options for promoting RE and EE
• Increased accountability of regulators to fulfill the RE and EE aspects of their mandates stipulated in India's 2003 National Electricity Act
• Support for electricity regulators in managing the tradeoffs involved in providing low cost, reliable energy
• Encouragement of progressive regulators to take bold steps to promote RE and EE, and to champion sustainable energy programmes