"There is a degree of agreement within the committee of secretaries that a separate appellate tribunal for petroleum sector was not necessary," Power Secretary R V Shahi said.
The planning commission has also supported the proposal of a single tribunal for power and petroleum sectors, he said, adding that a formal decision was, however, yet to be taken.
An appellate tribunal for electricity was set up in May this year with Justice (retd) Anil Dev Singh as chairperson, two technical members and one judicial member. Shahi, however, pitched for regulators across all energy sectors to ensure that power tariffs are low and affordable.
"It makes no sense to regulate power tariffs when cost of fuel, which makes the major part of tariff, is not regulated," he said at a TERI seminar on power reforms.
At present, while central and state power regulators fix tariffs, price of oil, gas and coal is partly market-driven and fixed by the government in an ad-hoc manner.
The coal ministry has previously opposed setting up a coal regulator on grounds that coal is a commodity and prices should be market-driven.
The plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia favoured a single energy regulator that would oversee all energy-related sectors such as coal, petroleum and power.
"Ministries are quite happy with the idea of a single tribunal and we can have a single regulator as well," he said, adding the panel is preparing a paper on the appropriateness of regulatory framework in energy sector.
Ahluwalia said a single energy regulator would also ensure that a single ministry cannot influence it any way and try to undermine its autonomy and independence.
The commission is in the final stages of preparing the draft Integrated energy policy which would be circulated to various stakeholders by the end of this month, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, central electricity regulatory commission chairman A K Basu said a strong regulatory and legal framework was essential for power reforms.
On the much talked-about amendments in the Electricity Act, Basu said there was nothing wrong with making changes but the government should "do it quickly, announce it and get over with it."
Apparently referring to the power ministry's reported moves to amend the Act in a way that would have curtailed the regulators' authority, Basu said "there were some attempts to regulate the regulator to make government policies binding.
"There was a lot of debate and discussion and I am sure the ministry will not carry it forward," he said.
