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News: NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Rockefeller Foundation, and Smart Power India has launched the ‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report.
Facts:
- About the report: The report is based on a survey conducted across 10 states.
- Objective: The report captures insights from both demand (electricity customers) as well as supply side (electricity distribution utilities).It seeks to:
- Evaluate the status of electricity access in India across these states and distribution utilities along all dimensions that constitute meaningful access
- Benchmark utilities’ capacity to provide electricity access and identify the drivers of sustainable access
- Develop recommendations for enhancing sustainable electricity access.
Key Takeaways:
- Availability of Electricity: 92% of customers reported the overall availability of electricity infrastructure within 50 metres of their premises.
- Grid Based Electricity: 87% of the surveyed customers have access to grid-based electricity. The remaining 13% either use non-grid sources or don’t use any electricity at all.
- Hours of Electricity: The hours of supply have improved significantly across the customer categories to nearly 17 hours per day.
- Metered Connection: Nearly 85% of customers reported to have a metered electricity connection.
- Access: The Access to electricity is observed in 83% of household customers.
- Satisfaction Index: A satisfaction index was created to assess the overall satisfaction level of customers with utility services.The study suggested that a total of 66% of those surveyed were satisfied––74% of customers in urban areas and 60% in rural areas.
Recommendations: Some of the recommendations given by report are:
- Infrastructure and capacity-building of utilities
- Prioritising 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.
