According to the Government of India, the ?16,320 crore Saubhagya scheme funds the cost of last-mile connectivity to ‘willing households’. The household electrification scheme, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya, has been implemented at an unprecedented pace. Of 26.04 million households targeted under the scheme, 99.93%households have got electricity connections as on 31 March, claims official website

Significance of power for all: Electricity consumption is one of the most important indices that decide the development level of a nation. Electricity is the driver for India’s development.

Measures needed to augment Saubhagya: In order to achieve 24×7 power for all, we need to focus on three frontiers:

Real-time monitoring of supply at the end-user level:

• We achieve what we measure. While the government is bringing all feeders in the country online, we currently have no provision to monitor supply as experienced by households.
• Only such granular monitoring can help track the evolving reality of electricity supply on the ground and guide DISCOMS to act in areas with sub-optimal performance.
• Eventually, smart meters (that the government plans to roll out) should help enable such monitoring.

DISCOMS need to focus on improving the quality of supply as well as maintenance services:

• Adequate demand estimation and respective power procurement will go a long way in reducing load shedding.
• Moreover, about half the rural population across the six States reported at least two days of 24-hour-long unpredictable blackouts in a month.
• Such incidents are indicative of poor maintenance, as opposed to intentional load-shedding.
• DISCOMS need to identify novel cost-effective approaches to maintain infrastructure in these far-flung areas.
• Some States have already taken a lead in this. Odisha has outsourced infrastructure maintenance in some of its rural areas to franchisees, while Maharashtra has introduced village-level coordinators to address local-level challenges. Such context-based solutions should emerge in other States as well.

Quality Customer Service:

• Finally, the improvement in supply should be complemented with a significant improvement in customer service, which includes billing, metering and collection.
• Success depends on curbing DISCOM losses and consumer honesty.
• Distributed generation could complement centralised grid electricity to resolve both, and ensure sustained use of electricity not just for rural households, but also for the entire rural economy including farms, schools, hospitals, and small businesses.
• It would lead to improved consumer satisfaction, as electricity truly becomes an enabler of prosperity in rural India.

Way forward:

• Given that electricity is in the concurrent list, it is for states to ensure quality, reliable and affordable electricity to consumers.
• We need radically innovative approaches such as the proposed prepaid smart meters and last-mile rural franchisees to improve customer service and revenue collection.
• Rural renewable energy enterprises could especially be interesting contenders for such franchisees, considering the social capital they already possess in parts of rural India.
• As we focus on granular monitoring, high-quality supply, better customer service and greater revenue realisation at the household level, we also need to prioritise electricity access for livelihoods and community services such as education and health care.
• Only such a comprehensive effort will ensure that rural India reaps the socio-economic benefits of electricity.