DISTRIBUTION OF POWER IN INDIA

OVERVIEW:-
Distribution is the most important link in the entire power sector value chain. As the only
interface between utilities and consumers, it is the cash register for the entire sector. Under the
Indian Constitution, power is a Concurrent subject and the responsibility for distribution and
supply of power to rural and urban consumers rests with the states.

Government of India provides assistance to states through various Central Sector / centrally sponsored
schemes for improving the distribution sector.

Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS)

Scheme approved on 20.11.2014 with a total outlay of Rs 32,612 crore which includes a budgetary support
of Rs 25,354 crore from Govt. of India. The objectives of scheme are:

• Strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in the urban areas;

• Metering of distribution transformers / feeders / consumers in the urban area.
• IT enablement of distribution sector and strengthening of distribution network

The component of IT enablement of distribution sector and strengthening of distribution network

approved in June, 2013 in the form of RAPDRP for 12th and 13th Plans got subsumed in this scheme and
approved scheme outlay of Rs 44,011 crore including a budgetary support of Rs 22,727 crore carried over
to the new scheme of IPDS.

Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)

Scheme approved on 20.11.2014 with a total outlay of Rs 44,033 crore which includes a budgetary support
of Rs 33,453 crore from Govt. of India. The objectives of scheme are:

• Separation of agriculture and non-agriculture feeders

• Strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in the rural areas;
• Metering of distribution transformers / feeders / consumers in the rural area.
• Rural Electrification
• The component of Rural Electrification approved in August, 2013 in the form of RGGVY for 12th
and 13th Plans got subsumed in this scheme and approved scheme cost of Rs 39275 crore
including a budgetary support of Rs 35447crore carried over to the new scheme of DDUGJY.
National Electricity Fund (NEF)

To promote investment in the distribution sector, GoI has set up National Electricity Fund (Interest Subsidy
Scheme) in March 2012 to provide interest subsidy on loans disbursed to the Distribution Companies
(DISCOMS) – both in public and private sector, to improve the distribution network for areas not covered
by RGGVY and R-APDRP project areas. The preconditions for eligibility are linked to certain reform
measures taken by the States and the amount of interest subsidy is linked to the progress achieved in
reforms linked parameters.

Financial Restructuring Scheme

GoI has notified the scheme for Financial Restructuring of State Distribution Companies (Discoms) in
October 2012 for achieving their financial turnaround by restructuring their short term liabilities with
support through a Transitional Finance Mechanism from Central Govt.

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION:-
• Rural Electrification is a mechanism of bringing power to remote areas and its extension to rural
areas is quite challenging and costly too. At least a billion people worldwide still lack household
electric power - a population equal to that of the entire world in the early 19th century. Here are
some graphs shown to understand the current scenario.

• In the first graph it represents the areas under Electrification which is represented in dark green
in colour, light green for the region which is electrified, yellow represents the places under
Electrification and sky blue for the other regions left for electricity.

• The second bar graph is narrating information about BPL: BELOW POVERTY LINE, it describes
about the people under the electricity which falls below the poverty line and it's found that the
region required to be electrified is more as compared to the region electrified so far till date. The
red bar is the area with no electricity at all. India ‘Map represents the current status of Electricity
distributed to remote and rural area

• In the above figure it states improvement and achievements till date made for people living below
poverty line BPL. Graphs shown gives a glance of no. Of interruption, Duration of interruption,
and power supply monitoring in statistics. All states of India rural areas area taken into
consideration, it is observed that in Gujarat there is with surplus of Electricity so it's rural areas
areas are more electrified as compared to other states, however a drastic change is observed in
Uttar Pradesh because there is scarcity of Electricity due to weak services given by the
government.
• The speed and progress of rural electrification work going on under the Deendayal Upadhyaya
Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) seems to be losing its steam. As per the latest performance report
from DDUGJY , during FY2017-18, it has achieved 26% of its target or electrified 1,156 villages as
against its target of 4,492 villages. But this does not mean electricity is available in every nook and
corner of the village. For that, we need to check data for intensive electrification of villages.
• Here also, the report says, achievement in percentage terms for intensive electrified villages
is just 31% during FY2017-18 till August. The government has completed intensive
electrification of 26,702 villages as against the target of 85,000 villages. This means, there are
still over 58,000 villages where electricity is not yet available for every rural household. The
Central government has said that by May 2018, it will achieve 100% electrification of all
villages identified for the DDUGJY scheme.

• Talking about village level electrification, the app shows that there are 2,981 or 16% of villages
that still need to be electrified. During March 2017, the government completed electrification
in 759 villages, but after that, the speed has come down. In fact, during August 2017, just 187
villages were electrified. At this speed, the DDUGJY may take another 10 months or so to
achieve its target of 100% electrification.
•
• But what would it mean to those who are living there? As per the definition issued by the Ministry
of Power in February 2004, a village would be declared as electrified if the basic infrastructure
such as distribution transformer and distribution lines are provided in the inhabited locality as
well and electricity is provided to public places like schools, panchayat office, health centres,
dispensaries, and community centres and number of households electrified is at least 10% of the
total number of households in the village.

• According to data from the Garv app, villages with 100% household connectivity are 1,180 or just
8%. So there is a long way to go before anyone can say that we have achieved 100% intensive
electrification of all identified villages. As on April 2015, the government had identified 18,452
villages as un-electrified.

• Another interesting chart from the progress report shows that except Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal, all other states experience power cuts ranging
from few minutes to more than half a day. Mizoram suffers the worst state – it gets a supply of
only for 11.50 hours out of 24 hours. Similar is the condition of many states from the North East.
However, what surprises is even a state like Haryana faces power cuts for almost 10 hours every
day, as per the data from DDUGJY. In sum, 100% electrification is not exactly 100% electrification
and even where connections have reached, adequate power supply is another issue.
•
URBAN DISTRIBUTION:-
Up to 6 July 2018, 42.3 million urban households are provided with electricity, which is 95% of
the 44.7 million total urban households.

• Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu,
Pondicherry, Haryana, West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya have 100% urban household
electrification rate.
• Maharashtra (99.94%)
• Karnataka (99.84%)
• Himachal Pradesh (99.76%)
• Telangana (99.73%)
• Rajasthan (99.25%)
• Madhya Pradesh (98.75%),
• Mizoram (98.17%)
• Chhattisgarh (97.92%),
• Kerala (95.73%)
• Arunachal Pradesh (93.35%)
• Bihar (90.96%)
• Manipur (90.78%)
• Jharkhand (89.03%)
• Assam (85.83%)
• Uttar Pradesh (85.12%)
• Nagaland (82.83%)
• Odisha (82.53%)
• Uttarakhand (82.33%)