Energetica India 89 - May 2020

POWER SECTOR 50 energetica INDIA- May_2020 Rural Electrification: Moving from Electricity Connections to Reliable Power For All As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19 pandemic, reliable electricity supply has a major role to play in connecting the world and ensuring the smooth functioning of essential services. In emergencies like these, it is the rural households that most often bear the brunt on account of poor or no electricity connection. India made significant strides in provid - ing 100 percent rural electrification in the last couple of years. In 1950, only 3,000 villages in the country had access to electricity. In April 2018, Leisang in Manipur became India’s last village to be electrified. India has come a long way where today it is not only the world’s third-largest electricity producer but also has a robust grid infrastructure that con - nects almost every urban and willing rural household. The Coronavirus pan - demic has demonstrated humankind’s dependence on electricity for economic activities and virtual social engaments. As the world has moved into a lockdown mode, it is electricity that is holding us together, supporting key functions such as communications, online shopping, healthcare, entertainment, food and above all, accessing critical information on electronic devices to stay updated. Despite the indispensable nature of electricity in our everyday lives, a recent World Bank data shows that 940 million people across the globe continue to live without access to electricity. Similar sit - uations exist in India too where afford - ability and reliability in electricity delivery continue to remain a major challenge even today. In India, a village is declared electrified if 10 percent of the households has access to electricity. This implies that 100 percent village electrification may not promise100 percent household elec - trification. This is one reason why despite the commendable achievement in rural electrification, nearly 30 million people still lack electricity access. As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19 pandemic, reliable electricity supply has a major role to play in connecting the world and ensuring the smooth function - ing of essential services. In emergencies like these, it is the rural households that most often bear the brunt on account of poor or no electricity connection. Rural households in India get only 16 hours or less electricity supply daily. Even these sporadic services tend to get interrupt - ed by fluctuating voltage and power outage issues. As a result, most rural households and those engaged in agri - culture or micro-enterprise activities opt for alternative sources such as diesel generators, incurring additional costs. While such alternatives are costlier in the long run than grid electricity, they ensure steady and quality electricity supply. From Electricity Connections to Reli - able and Affordable Power For All Electricity has helped create a sizable impact on both local and national econ - omies. But to ensure that electricity ac - cess has the maximum desired impact, it is imperative that the supply is reli - able and of good quality. The Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity Survey of States 2018 revealed that Ut - tar Pradesh has the highest share of un - electrified households (20 percent) that do not wish to be connected even if they are provided with a free connection. One of the primary reasons, the survey notes, is the unreliable electricity supply in the state. The notion that rural electrification is unviable has become a common nar - rative but is untrue. Most rural house - holds receive only poor-quality electricity supply with fluctuating voltages and un - scheduled power cuts. Such uncertainty over the power supply often results in low confidence among customers. Poor cus - tomer service, which has been known to include inaccurate and untimely electric - ity billing and absent redressal mecha - nisms, further aggravates the problem. In other words, it is the faults in service and delivery system that lead to disen - chanted customers and a persistent perception of poor value. India needs to move beyond electricity connections to providing reliable and affordable elec - tricity for all to ensure increased adop - tion by rural households. In critical times such as this, especially when the gov - ernments across the globe are finding it difficult to communicate with the people due to inaccessibility and lack of power Jaideep Mukherji CEO, Smart Power India