Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Assam are the large states lagging in terms of performance in the government’s ambitious “Saubhagya” household electrification scheme with 18.8 million households electrified since October 11 last year with another 11 million awaiting electrification. Uttar Pradesh has only 44 per cent of the unelectrified households as of last year being electrified.

Ensuring energy access in Uttar Pradesh

 • To ensure sustainability
o Adopting energy conservation building code for all new commercial construction to bring down energy use by 50%
o Cutting fossil fuel consumption through energy efficiency –

•  Shifting towards rail-based mass transport systems and electric & hybrid vehicles in transport sector to reduce pressure on exchequer as well as reducing pollution
• All key appliances, equipment and vehicles should be covered by mandatory standards and labelling programmes by 2020
• Establishment of an index of states by Niti Aayog to rate them across a range of energy efficiency related parameters. This will motivate them to create & strengthen state nodal agencies (SNA) and perform better. Recently, NITI Aayog came out with a State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index which was topped by Kerala.
•  Expansion of the PAT (Perform Achieve and Trade) program to cover 80% of all industrial consumption, including the unorganised sector, by 2020  

o Removing subsidies on electricity - The eventual goal should be to bring down the cross-subsidy from industry, placing the burden directly on the budget. This would contribute to making electricityintensive businesses more competitive.
o Improving air quality - Geographic concentration of power plants so that they do not damage air quality in human habitations and water supply to these ought to be priced as per its scarcity value.

• For independence and security
o Setting up statutory regulatory authority (SRA) for coal, power and petroleum for issuing swifter regulation and enhance coordination. This will ensure swifter response from industry leading to supply security
o Expansion of energy infrastructure and increasing strategic reserves as insurance against imported supplies.

• For affordability
o Corporatizing CIL - by converting 7 subsidiaries of coal India Limited into independent companies and be allowed to compete against each other for better production, distribution and pricing. At present monopoly disincentivises attempts to contain costs
o Compensation to customers through direct benefit transfer in event of price rise (discussed later).

• For economic growth in general and energy intensive sector
o Promoting investment in energy sector

1. ? encourage adoption of imaginative tools to de-risk energy infrastructure projects such as extended debt tenure, VGF (viability gap funding), tolling, dollar denominated returns to attract private capital
2. ? Conceiving suitable hedging mechanisms for ECBs
3. ? Pursuing emerging sectors such as clean coal technology, battery storage etc.
4. • Some provisions related to consumers

o Innovative billing and metering practices will be offered to them to be able to pay in a staggered manner.

The above steps will help to ensure affordable electricity to the population and thus leading to socio-economic growth.