chennai tamil nadu chief minister edappadi k palaniswami has urged prime minister narendra modi to keep the new electricity amendment bill in abeyance till the proposed changes are thoroughly discussed with state governments in a letter he said the bill goes against the rights of states and was detrimental to public interestthe centre has introduced the bill the fourth draft since 2014 to help private players enter generation distribution and transmission of electricity which by and large remains stateowned discoms monopoly as of nowthe bill seeks to make discoms levy power charges from all types of consumers the government will have to directly transfer the subsidy component to the beneficiaries bank accounts the electricity regulatory commission will have to fix tariffs without accounting for subsidies in simpler terms crosssubsidising some sectors agriculture huts and domestic connections by levying higher tariffs on other sectors commercial and industrial connections will stopin an election year palaniswamis concern is that the bill would antagonise a large section of consumers as it would put spanner in the works of free power distribution to agriculture sector and hutments the state has not been able to even meter agriculture power consumption if unlimited use of power by agriculture sector ends it could become a major political issue for the government the state has also been providing 100 units of free power to all domestic consumershowever the concerns raised by palaniswami in the letter is that there would be serious difficulties in implementing direct benefit transfer in the electricity sector it would work against the interest of farmers and domestic consumers he claimedit has been the consistent policy of my government that our farmers should receive free power and it should be left with the state government to decide the mode of payment of such subsidy said the chief ministerthe proposed amendment bill also seeks to take away the power of the state government in deciding the constitution of the state electricity regulatory commission the commission has been so accommodative with the state government that even the mandatory tariff revision has not been happening for years in tamil naduone of the key amendments in the bill is creation of electricity contract enforcement authority aimed at enforcing contractual obligations by all stakeholders across the country it will have the powers of a civil court problems that arose in the power sector in andhra pradesh after the change of government is what prompted the centre to envisage formation of a new authority the authority will have the sole jurisdiction to adjudicate on obligations under contracts regarding sale purchase and transmission of electricity the bill also seeks to put an end to delayed payment by discoms to power generation firms