On Monday Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government is working on a framework that will give consumers in India a chance to choose their discoms or service providers for electricity. The framework will be presented soon.

Also, Read | Union Budget 2021 LIVE Updates

At present, most power distribution utilities (discoms) in the country are state-owned. Many of them are cash strapped and therefore, not able to provide electricity 24 hours, further hindering the Modi government’s ‘power for all’ vision.

While giving her Union Budget 2021-22 speech, the Finance Minister said, “Discoms are monopolies. There is a need to provide a choice to customers to choose a service provider (distribution company) for enhancing competitiveness. A framework will be put in place to provide an alternative.”

In her presentation of the budget Sitharaman also mentioned that 139 Giga Watts of installed capacity and 1.41 lakh circuit km of transmission lines have been added, and additional 2.8 crore households connected in past 6 years.

She also stated an allocation of Rs 3,05,984 crore over 5 years for a revamped, reforms-based, and result-linked new power distribution sector scheme. in her series of announcements, she further added that a comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission 2021-22 will also be launched.