New Delhi, Feb. 24 -- Financial reforms and clear, transparent tariff policies are essential for the long-term sustainability of power distribution companies (DISCOMs), the Central Electricity Authority Chairperson Ghanshyam Prasad said on Tuesday.

According to Prasad, key priorities include automatically passing fuel cost changes to consumers, requiring DISCOMs to sell surplus electricity on power exchanges, and speeding up the tariff-setting process.

"If you really want to reduce the cost of generation and cost of procurement, some of the rules which we had already brought in are still not being practised," Prasad said while addressing the 4th DISCOM Conclave themed "Creating Next Gen Discoms: Financially Strong and Digitally Smart"....