Latest reports reveal that only around 20,000 households in Chhattisgarh remained to be given electricity connection in the country.
The connection challenge may have been met, but the supply challenge remains, which has to be addressed.
What is the drawback in approach?
To improve the quality of life and to aid economic activities, it is essential to ensure affordable and reliable electricity supply.
But this has largely been neglected in the rush to reach household connection and village electrification milestones.
Supply is managed by cash-strapped distribution companies which have no financial incentive to supply to the rural poor.
What are the concerns?
Supply quality - As the focus has been on connections, there is limited data on problems with electricity supply quality.
Available data indicate that metering, billing and payment complaints dominate the list.
There are inordinate delays in issuing bills for newly connected households, mistakes in bills, meter faults and difficulties in bill payments.
Delays or mistakes in bills lead to very high bills, which small consumers find tough to pay, thus leading to disconnection.
Power outages - Government reports indicate 16 to 24 hours of supply in rural areas.
But consumer surveys and sample measurements report much lower hours.
Community services - Other than homes, rural electrification should also ensure access to agriculture, small business and community services like street lighting, schools, and health centres.
Agriculture gets only 7 to 8 hours of supply in most States, mostly during the night, with frequent interruptions.
Frequent interruptions also discourage operation of commercial enterprises in rural areas.
But revenue of the distribution company can increase only if more such consumers use electricity.
What are the possible measures?
Before the consumers lose faith in the grid supply, it is necessary to take steps to improve the quality of supply.
Post connection parameters like issue of first bill, hours of supply, distribution transformer failure rate and growth of non-domestic consumer connections should be tracked.
State discoms could improve metering and billing and deploy bill payment centres with support from panchayat offices, post offices or health centres.
Complaint procedures can be simplified through mobile applications and public hearings.
Distribution companies should be financially penalised by the regulatory commissions for poor quality of supply.
The Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), which is presently urban focussed, should be extended to rural areas.
Power from stranded generation capacity, depreciated plants and unutilised capacity should be rationalised.
It can be provided at concessional rates to distribution companies for reliable supply in designated rural areas.
To promote economic activity, small enterprises with consumption of about 300 units should be assured affordable tariff.
For community facilities like health centres in want of reliable supply, schemes to deploy kilowatt size solar plants with battery backup could be planned.
Technology-led initiatives like prepaid meters, smart meters and direct benefit transfer should be attempted as pilot projects before scaling up.
