Washington, April 30: A high—level American energy delegation would travel to India next week for Indo—US energy dialogue as part of the effort of the two governments to boost up their relationship in the critical energy sector.
In her opening remarks at the Indo—US Regulatory Dialogue, Deputy US Assistant Secretary for International Energy Cooperation Phyllis Yoshida said, next week a delegation led by her would be travelling to India for a US—India energy dialogue with the government officials in the Union Ministry of Power.
The visit intends to discuss the activity status and implementation status of two memorandums of understandings already signed with the Indian Prime Minister earlier this year, said a media release issued by the organisers of the event.
The Indo—US Regulatory dialogue titled ‘Public Good Vs Private Profit’ was jointly organised by Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The workshop was organised to bring together regulators and policymakers from both sides of the globe on a common platform to exchange the best practices in regulating entities across various sectors.
Some of the key issues that were examined during the day long workshop included: US and Indian industry perspectives on regulating integrated utilities and challenges faced by public utility Regulators in striking a balance between “public good and private profit.”
The former Power Secretary, Anil Razdan, suggested that India should have a time—of—day tariff as this consumer gets an opportunity to judge its demand and would automatically opt for demand management.
John Shelk, president and CEO, Electric Power Supply Association, said the regulators should not make over promises on price reduction as it is not always feasible to do so in different time frames.
According to a press release, regulators from both the countries felt that US and India have a lot in common. Both have large democracy, both nations have embraced diversity; have been successful in establishing democracy and both the nations have embraced public and private sector.
“Public Good and Private profit should not be seen as opposing forces that need to be balanced”, said Pramod Deo, Chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It is the duty of the Government to protect the poor and not that of the regulators, he added.
Lawrence Brenner, Maryland State Commissioner and former FERC Administrative Law Judge said the prices may not always be the cheapest at a given point of time. There should be a balanced policy, however, there are always top—down and bottom—up compromises.
—PTI