Employees of electricity distribution companies (discoms) across India will resort to a boycott of work on February 3. The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has been called the protest, which has said that about 15 lakh power sector workers will take part in the boycott to voice opposition against the union government’s push for privatisation of discoms.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the federation has expressed objections to the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the ministry of power's Standard Bidding Document for discom privatisation. The latest case of privatisation was in October 2020, when Tata Power took over Odisha's Central Electricity supply Undertaking (CESU).

Most discoms in the country are run by state governments and are mired in losses and debt. The union budget has announced that “a framework will be put in place to give consumers alternatives to choose from among more than one Distribution Company,” thereby ending discom monopolies. The budget also announced a ₹3.06 lakh crore financial assistance package for the discoms which will be results-linked, incentivising discoms to improve their financial performance.

Though bringing in privatisation reform can be difficult as most discoms are controlled by state governments, AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey has said that the push for privatisation will end up converting state-owned monopolies into private monopolies.

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