In this Mint article, Jessica Seddon, Visiting Fellow at IDFC Institute talks about the blatant gaps in policy intent and implementation on the ground. Excerpts:

"Ambitious policy proclamations still run aground on deeply entrenched economic interests. Take for example, the continuing flow of open access disputes in electricity, in which a commercial supplier and/or an industrial customer requests open access from a (generally state-owned) distribution licensee. The transcripts frequently describe futile attempts at correspondence and eventual answers that seem either evasive or at odds with the general principles of electron flow. In one case, a state distribution utility took the state electricity regulatory commission (ERC) to court for ordering it to provide open access, claiming that the regulator had no jurisdiction since it was a dispute between a customer and a utility that should go to the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum. The prevalence of these issues in court suggests that a key part of the Electricity Act of 2003 is still not working on the ground."