Lucknow: The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) today organised a workshop on ‘Enhancing Consumer Participation in UP’s Power Sector’, first in a series of capacity building workshops aimed at improving consumer oversight, in Lucknow. The workshop, in collaboration with the Centre for Energy, Environment and Development (CEED), and supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), focused on the fundamentals of electricity tariffs, an overview of the tariff determination exercise, and the role of electricity distribution companies (discoms) in consumer protection. Representatives from more than thirty-five civil society organisations working at grassroots in different districts of the state including UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad, Consumer Coordination Council, Mahila Samakhya attended the workshop.
Delivering his keynote address at the workshop, S.K.Agarwal, member, UPERC, said, “I appreciate the efforts of organisations like CEEW and CEED in facilitating representation and redressal of consumer issues at the discom level in each district of UP.”
Karthik Ganesan, Research Fellow, CEEW, said, “This series of capacity building workshops aims to improve consumer knowledge on Uttar Pradesh’s power sector and create an environment conducive for reform. Our research programme will address three core issues in the state’s power sector- creating a responsive consumer base, enabling institutional reforms in discoms, and restructuring power procurement and retail tariff structures. We hope to support the state’s power sector reforms, through our independent research and ability to convene stakeholders on sustainability concerns.”
“We are witnessing power sector reform in the country. Consumer awareness on rights and responsibilities in electricity supply and distribution is one of the integral parts of power sector reform. There is a growing concern among consumers about high electricity tariff, lack of proper supply of electricity and complete lack of information about complaint redressal at the ground level. This workshop is an attempt towards filling this gap and to facilitating an easy communication flow for consumers” said Abhishek Pratap, Director-Program, CEED.
CEEW is one of is one of South Asia’s leading not-for-profit policy research institutions. With a new project office in Lucknow, CEEW aims to shape an ‘affordable, reliable, and accountable’ power sector in Uttar Pradesh.
The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) is one of South Asia’s leading not-for- profit policy research institutions. The Council uses data, integrated analysis, and strategic outreach to
explain – and change – the use, reuse, and misuse of resources. The Council addresses pressing global challenges through an integrated and internationally focused approach. It prides itself on the
independence of its high-quality research, develops partnerships with public and private institutions, and engages with wider public.
In 2018, CEEW once again featured extensively across nine categories in the ‘2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report’, including being ranked as South Asia’s top think tank (14th globally) with
an annual operating budget of less than USD 5 million for the fifth year in a row. In 2016, CEEW was also ranked 2nd in India, 4th outside Europe and North America, and 20th globally out of 240 think
tanks as per the ICCG Climate Think Tank’s standardised rankings. In 2013 and 2014, CEEW was rated as India’s top climate change think-tank as per the ICCG standardised rankings.
