The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Rural power supply still a mirage

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Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Rural power supply still a mirage

K. Venkateshwarlu

HYDERABAD: For all the ‘spectacular achievements’ in power sector reforms, the last mile -- rural household electrification -- is just about average in all the four southern States with Andhra Pradesh ranked at the bottom of the list.

Statistics compiled in a booklet by the Prayas Energy Group, a trust engaged in policy analysis in power sector, show that the coverage of the rural households ranged from 60 per cent in Andhra Pradesh to 65 in Karnataka, 71 in Tamil Nadu and 72 in Kerala.

Rural-urban divide

The rural- urban divide is obvious. The urban consumers, at least in State capitals and major cities, do not face power cut any more, get their snapped supply restored and faulty transformers replaced almost in a jiffy just by making a call. In contrast, those in rural areas have to endure 10 to 12 hours of load shedding daily.

The governments proudly claim cent percent electrification of villages under programmes like Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, but rarely talk of household connectivity. If electricity has reached most villages, why are so many houses still not electrified? “The reasons for this are manifold. Cumbersome procedures of electricity companies and high costs for initial connections ranging from Rs. 600 to Rs. 3,000 are the first hurdles to access,” say N. Sreekumar and Tejal Kanitkar, lead authors of the booklet, “Awareness and action for better electricity – an agenda for the community”.

Many poor households cannot submit the multitude of documents - such as internal wiring reports, proof of residence, proof of identity etc. required by the electricity companies. “Added to these are the bribes that rural consumers have to pay to middlemen and company employees. The cost of repeated trips to company offices too is a heavy burden for households that run on daily wages. Revenue from rural consumers is small and power sector reforms have stressed on the commercial viability of the sector. This has led to a systematic neglect of rural consumers by the electricity companies,” they said.

It was with this intention that the highly informative booklet has been brought out, to empower and equip the community leaders to take on utilities and further the interests of the poor.

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