Electricity Access & Utility Benchmarkin

Q. Why is this in news ?

A. NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Rockefeller Foundation, and Smart Power India have together launched the ‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report.

Q. What about this report? 

• It is based on a primary survey conducted across 10 states––representing about 65% of the total rural population of India.
• Aimed at capturing insights from the demand (electricity customers) as well as supply-side (electricity distribution utilities), the report seeks to:

1. Evaluate the status of electricity access in India across these states and distribution utilities along all dimensions that constitute meaningful access
2. Benchmark utilities’ capacity to provide electricity access and identify the drivers of sustainable access
3. Develop recommendations for enhancing sustainable electricity access.

Q. What are key findings of the report? 

• As much as 92% of customers reported the overall availability of electricity infrastructure within 50 metres of their premises; however, not all have connections, the primary reason being the distance of households from the nearest pole.
• Overall, 87% of customers have access to grid-based electricity. The remaining 13% either use non-grid sources or don’t use any electricity at all.
• The hours of supply have improved significantly across the customer categories to nearly 17 hours per day.
• Nearly 85% of customers reported to have a metered electricity connection.
• Access to electricity is observed in 83% of household customers.
• Considering the overall satisfaction level, a total of 66% of those surveyed were satisfied––74% of customers in urban areas and 60% in rural areas.

Q. What are recommendations made? 

• The key recommendations provided in the report are in the areas of policy and regulation, process improvement, infrastructure and capacity-building of utilities. Other recommendations included:
• prioritizing the release of new connections for non-household customers
• transfer of subsidies or other benefits directly into a customer’s account
• enhanced technology-driven customer service; ensuring 100% metering of customers