With a career spanning over two decades, Dr Umakanta Panda has been actively involved in the Indian power sector. At present, Dr Panda serves as secretary at the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC), playing a pivotal role in overseeing regulatory compliance, tariff structuring and policy implementation in the state’s power sector.
In the past, Dr Panda has served as joint director (information technology) at the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission and Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.
According to him, state regulators today face several challenges that not only impact the operational efficiency of the regulatory commissions but also influence the overall functioning of the power sector at the state level.
One of the critical challenges is ensuring a uniform pay structure for employees working in these commissions. Unlike the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and a few state commissions which follow central government pay scales, most state commissions provide salaries based on state government pay scales. The pay structure in many states is lower as compared to the central government and this disparity in compensation creates significant challenges in attracting and retaining skilled professionals.
More so, as the regulatory space is interdisciplinary, requiring expertise in domains such as engineering, tariff determination, information technology, economics, finance, and other allied areas, attracting the best talent from CPSUs becomes difficult due to limitations in pay, perks and allowances.
Many professionals from CPSUs, who possess the required technical and financial expertise, often prefer to remain in their respective organisations rather than transitioning to regulatory commissions, given the disparity in financial incentives.
Another key challenge is aligning the rules and policies notified by the Ministry of Power with state regulations. Differences in state priorities, infrastructure readiness, and administrative capabilities further complicate the process, making it difficult for state regulators to implement central government directives uniformly.
Dr Umakanta Panda holds a PhD in Management Science from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH), and is also an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, Odisha.