A full-fledged Department of Power under Government of West Bengal came into being on 19th September, 1972. Until then, matters pertaining to power were being looked after by the Electricity Development Directorate under the Department of Commerce & Industries. The driving forces/factors behind the decision to create a separate department under the stewardship of a Minister-in-charge of cabinet rank were:

• Urgent requirement of more power for accelerating the economic growth of the state
• Need for long term perspective planning for generation of power and execution of power projects
• Planning and overseeing appropriate investments in the power sector, both in the public and private domains
• Enactment of appropriate legislation and framing of rules to facilitate the expeditious development of power in the state
• Need for coordinating and dovetailing the activities of various power generation and distribution utilities in the state cohesively.