EDICON 2026: Power Minister Stresses Financially Resilient DISCOMs as Backbone of India’s Renewable Energy-Led Power Sector

Union Minister of Power Shri Manohar Lal on Tuesday said that India’s power sector is set to expand significantly in the coming years, driven by the country’s growing economy, and underscored the need for distribution companies (DISCOMs) to be financially strong and operationally efficient to meet future demand.

Delivering the inaugural address at the Electricity Distribution Industry Conference EDICON: 2026, the Minister said that strong and prosperous DISCOMs are essential for improved service delivery and greater responsiveness to consumer needs. He added that a thriving power sector would be critical to sustaining India’s economic growth in the years ahead.

The two-day conference, being held on 21–22 January 2026, is organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Power in collaboration with the All India Discoms Association (AIDA).

The Minister urged State Electricity Regulatory Commissions to move towards cost-reflective tariffs, while ensuring that targeted subsidies are provided to needy consumers in line with the provisions of the Electricity Act.

During the event, Shri Manohar Lal unveiled the first edition of AIDA’s annual report titled “India Discoms: 2025”. The report provides an outlook of the electricity distribution sector, covering ongoing efforts by DISCOMs to improve supply reliability and operational efficiency, key challenges faced by the sector, and an overview of initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Power and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). These include measures such as the Draft Electricity Amendment Bill and the India Energy Stack. The report also features 13 articles by eminent power sector experts and a summary of AIDA’s activities during 2025.

The Power Minister also conferred Gold and Silver awards to 12 DISCOMs across six categories, recognising excellence in areas such as improvement in rural revenue recovery, effective use of smart meter data, enhancement of consumer satisfaction through digital payments, innovation in renewable energy integration, agricultural feeder solarisation, and effective change management for improved consumer services. Award-winning DISCOMs hailed from Gujarat, Odisha, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The event was attended by Shri Pankaj Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Power; Shri Lokesh Chandra, CMD, MSEDCL and President, AIDA; Dr. Ashish Kumar Goel, Chairperson, UPPCL and General Secretary, AIDA; Shri Alok Kumar, Director General, AIDA; and other senior officials and stakeholders from the power sector.