From policy to petition: Disputes & discretion in regulating Karnataka’s energy transition

Abstract

India’s renewable energy transition is deeply influenced by subnational institutions, particularly electricity regulators. This paper examines Karnataka’s energy landscape to explore how regulatory decisions both reflect and shape the politics of subnational energy transitions. Through an empirical analysis of over 370 regulatory and appellate orders issued between 2010 and 2022, it reveals that regulatory forums are not neutral or purely technical spaces but arenas of political and institutional contestation. This paper makes three key arguments. First, emerging actors, such as farmer-developer and developer associations in Karnataka, are increasingly participating in and challenging national energy ambitions. Policies must account for diverse interests across all regions while framing transition goals. Second, a regulatory design in which the same body creates regulations and adjudicates disputes arising from them, can produce legal uncertainty and a weak institutional framework. Finally, regulators play a central role in shaping both technical governance and socio-economic outcomes, using regulatory discretion to balance competing interests of consumers, utilities and renewable developers. This paper thus highlights that energy transition goes far beyond technology. Understanding subnational politics, the social and economic interests of all the key stakeholders, and how state regulators navigate these, is key for a sustainable and inclusive transition.