Mantralaya sources told The Financial Express that the committee also comprises principal secretary (energy) UK Mukhopadhyay, principal secretary (planning) Asoke Basak, principal secretary (finance) RB Buddhiraja, MSEB chairman Yashwant Bhave, Power Finance Corporation director AA Khan, Tata Power managing director Adi Engineer and BSES chairman RV Shahi.

The committee's reconstitution was necessitated following the vacancy created due to the appointment of its former chairman and state additional chief secretary Narayan Velluri as in charge of investments by non-resident Indians. The committee would have to complete its exercise without further delay as the state government proposes to introduce the Maharashtra Electricity Reforms Bill in the ensuing session of the state legislature commencing from November 27 in Nagpur.

The Hyderabad-based Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) has already submitted the second draft of the proposed bill to the MSEB which has been holding talks with the trade unions on its recommendations. The Upasani committee would also look into ASCI's second draft of the Maharashtra Electricity Reforms Bill. It has recommended formation of Maharashtra Power Corporation with the principal objective of engaging in the business of procurement, transmission and supply of energy.

Sources said that the state government was committed to restructuring the power sector with emphasis on creating the conditions for sustainable development of the power supply industry and improve the efficiency and quality of services in Maharashtra. These sources added that the objective of the reform process is to ensure that the power sector ceases to be, through its state electricity board, a burden on the state's budget and eventually becomes a net generator of financial resources. The Upasani committee would have to make recommendations on a regional or functional break-up of the loss-making MSEB, outright sale or lease of some or all of MSEB assets, management contracts for certain areas or functional activities. The committee would also have to suggest innovative approaches for providing electricity to farmers, low income areas, high tension consumers and government entities for ensuring efficient power supply and bill collection.

The Upasani committee would also look into the possibility of appointment of a consultant in a bid to distance from the power industry for providing operational, managerial and financial autonomy to the power sector. The consultant would have to produce a demand forecast based on an analysis of the likely economic growth, demography, affordability, a least cost 20-year expansion plan of generation, transmission and distribution and assess the distributional impact of tariff changes.