NEW DELHI, May 16 (UPI) -- India's Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Finance Ministries are divided over World Bank's offer to help set up an energy regulator for gas and power.
The Hindustan Times newspaper said Tuesday the Finance Ministry was not averse to a regulator that oversees both the power and natural gas sectors, but the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry had rejected the idea.
"If the government goes ahead with the World Bank offer, then it would have to subsume the central electricity regulatory authority with the mega regulator mooted for the energy sector," the Petroleum Ministry said.
It said one basic problem with the World Bank proposal was that while the natural gas sector was governed by the Petroleum Ministry, the power sector was run by both the federal Power Ministry and state electricity boards.
Although natural gas is vital input for power generation, the issues relating to both sectors are distinct. There is also apprehension within the government that the offer to set up a regulator that has authority on both power and natural gas has been made at the insistence of international energy majors.
