The new regulatory politics of electricity in India: embryonic ground for consumer action

Abstract

Newly created regulatory bodies in India are the site for emergent consumer politics around electricity. Forged as a means of attracting private capital, these bodies have nonetheless become potential spaces for consumer and citizen engagement around electricity. The nature of this emergent space is examined by developing three narratives around emergent regulatory institutions—apolitical and independent regulation, regulation as captured by the state, and regulation as contested political space. Recent examples of consumer and citizen action on electricity, and particularly protests over a tariff hike following privatisation in Delhi, suggest that regulation as an institution is poised between being absorbed into politics as usual and creating a genuinely new space for consumer action and political engagement in India.