Unified Ministry for Energy Sector

What is the issue?

A single unified ministry for the energy sector is necessary to ensure energy security, sustainability and accessibility.

How is the energy sector currently managed?

• Five different ministries along with a multitude of regulators govern India’s energy sector.
• Petroleum and natural gas, coal, renewable energy and nuclear energy have separate ministries or departments.
• There is the Ministry of Power, along with State-level bodies that regulate electricity distribution companies (DISCOMS).
• Moreover, there are different regulators for each type of fuel and energy source.
• This makes it cumbersome for businesses operating in the energy sector.
• Further, the petroleum and natural gas sector has two regulators:
  1. Directorate General of Hydrocarbons for upstream activities
  2. Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board for downstream activities

What are the constraints in data management?

• No single agency collects energy data in a wholesome and integrated manner.
• Data pertaining to consumption are barely available.
• There are also shortcomings in the supply side data collected by agencies of respective ministries.
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation collates data available from various ministries.
• It also conducts surveys at sporadic intervals.

How is the governance model?

• On the energy efficiency front, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency is the sole statutory authority.
• Its mandate is to regulate energy efficiency on the consumption side.
• There is no agency or body for the same purpose on the supply side.
• This stands in stark contrast to most other nations with their varied energy governance models.
• Developed countries such as the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France have their energy sectors administered by a single ministry or department.
• There are also instances where the energy ministry is in conjunction with other portfolios such as environment, climate change, mines and industry.
• E.g., the U.K. - “Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy”, France - the “Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs”

How will a unified ministry help?

• A single unified ministry of energy would help India to have an integrated outlook on energy.
• This would enable India optimise the limited resources to meet the goals of energy security, sustainability and accessibility.
• A single energy ministry would also allow for a quicker policy response.

What are the recommendations in place?

• The Kelkar Committee has highlighted the issue in its report “Roadmap for Reduction in Import Dependency in the Hydrocarbon Sector by 2030” (2013).

• It says that presence of multiple ministries and agencies present challenges of coordination and optimal resource utilization.
• These drawbacks undermine the efforts to increase energy security in India.
• In the Draft National Energy Policy (NEP), the NITI Aayog has advocated that a Unified Ministry of Energy be created.
• This is suggested by merging the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Coal (MoC), New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Power (MoP).
• The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has been left out as it has implications beyond the scope of energy, involving national security issues.
• The proposed ministry would have 6 agencies under it to handle various aspects of the energy sector.
• These are the agencies of Energy Regulatory, Energy Data, Energy Efficiency, Energy Planning and Technical agency, Energy Schemes Implementation and Energy R&D.

What are the measures taken?

• The present government has already taken some steps towards unifying the governance structure of the energy sector.
• It has appointed a single minister for both MNRE and MoP.
• Having the same person heading both of these ministries will help resolve issues such as power balancing and transmission infrastructure planning.
• The debated issue of non-payment of dues by DISCOMS to the generators might also be resolved with such synergy in administration.

What is the way ahead?

• There has to be a quick and holistic decision-making mechanism as well as a level playing field for various fuels.
• A unified Ministry of Energy will go a long way in ensuring this.
• This will enable India to keep up with the global energy transition as well as continue to be a leader in adopting cleaner energy sources.

Source: The Hindu