Electricity: Problems and Prospects

The status of electricity coverage

  • As per the central government’s report, all Indian villages have become electrified.
  • Regardless of the tall claims by the government of bringing electricity to more than 18,000 villages that were submerged in darkness, the reality of many villages creates a hole in that theory.
  • Even when the villages are electrified, so many households are left without electricity connection with in each of those villages.
  • According to Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a village is considered electrified only if the Gram Panchayat certifies that the basic infrastructure has been provided to the inhabited area, including Dalit hamlets, and 10% of the households are electrified.
  • India has electrified 96% villages, but is still far from taking power to all homesbut only 69% of homes have electricity connections.
  • Biharis the worst performer. While 96% of Bihar’s villages are electrified, only 56% homes have electricity connections.
  • West Bengal is the best performer. Almost every village (100%) in West Bengal is electrified with 93% households having access to electricity.
  • According to the World Bank, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) database from the SE4ALL Global Tracking Framework led jointly by the World Bank, International Energy Agency, and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program India got 84.53% electricity coverage.

Energy source and percentage share in installed capacity

  • Thermal – 64.75%
  • Nuclear – 2.78%
  • Hydro – 21.73%
  • Other renewable energy sources – 10.73%

Constraint on the energy sector

  • Coast of production due to dependency over import of fuel.
  • Poor grid connectivity across rural India.
  • Inadequate harnessing of the energy potential, especially renewable energy.
  • Poor research and development in the energy sector
  • Poor people are not able to afford electricity over food.
  • Transmission losses are huge in the country.
  • Inadequate infrastructure for the production as well as the transmission of electricity.
  • Hilly and rural areas pose operation challenges to the power sector.
  • The fluctuation in the raw material availability and prices are also act as a constraint.
  • As power is a concurrent list subject, the jurisdictional and procedural delays has caused much damage to the sector.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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