Voice of Disenfranchise
UNDERSTANDING ENERGY ACCESS & THE
NEEDS OF THE BOP
Gurudutt Shenoy
Maitreya Foundation
Saurabh Mehta
Kyrion Technologies
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION PROGRAMS IN INDIA
Year
Program Name
Explanation
1969
REC (GOI)
Incorporated under Power Ministry for rural electrification
Village electrification – definition
A village is electrified if electricity is used for anything in the revenue area
1988-89
Kutir Jyoti Program
100% grant from government to install a single light to BPL HH. Later
merged to RGGVY
1997-2005
Changed Village electrification –
definition
A village is electrified if electricity is used in the inhabited locality for any
purpose. One bulb for a village was enough
2001
Village Electrification Program
(MNRE)
Light up remote villages with stand-alone SPV systems
2001
Minimum Needs Program
States with less than 65% electrification were provided with 100% loan
facility to reach 100% electrification
2002
Rural Electrification Supply
Technology
Electrify villages with local renewable resources, along with grid power, if
feasible
2005
National Electricity Policy
Targets set as : Complete electrification by 2009 and power to all by 2012
2005
Rajiv Gandhi Grameen
Vidyutikaran Yojana
New definition of village electrification:
1) Distribution Transformer and Distribution lines are provided.
2) Electricity is provided to public places
3) 10% HHs are electrified
Till 1997
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION SCENARIO IN INDIA
•
Statistics on access to electricity services in India stand at around 90 % of villages,
and 56% of the rural households.
•
Despite of governments efforts in improving supply capacity and distribution infrastructure, the
household electrification rate and power availability is still far below the desired level as well as
the world average.
•
The rural electrification schemes so far have focused mainly on the development and extension
of the existing grid to rural areas to provide quality and reliable power.
•
We haven’t seen much success in terms of Household electrification so far with these schemes.
The current definition of “village electrification” under the current scheme RGGVY itself moves
away from the core objective of the scheme.
UNDERSTANDING ENERGY ACCESS – FROM THE
BOP’S STANDPOINT
•
Though various agencies have developed their definition for electricity access, there is no
universally agreed-upon definition of electricity access.
•
Statistics are usually binary: households either have access or they don’t. This is
unsatisfactory because many important aspects of electricity access, such as quality,
quantity and affordability, are not considered.
•
A survey was done for randomly selected 108 Household in 6 villages of across 3 states
of India ( UP, Bihar & Odisha) all of which were incorporated in the RGGVY project.
•
The field level survey aimed at understanding the needs of the under-electrified
population, their awareness of schemes and market options for energy alternatives, and
their willingness to pay for such services
KEY LEARNING
•
Awareness on the scheme: less than 10% people knew about RGGVY even though their villages
and households had been electrified.
•
Legal connections & power theft : It was observed that even though all the 6 villages were
electrified, less than 32% of these households had legal electrical connections. It was also
observed that of the remaining 68% majority were using power illegally
•
Quality of supply: 90% off the 32% HHs that had received metered connection under RGGVY
reported that the electricity supply was erratic, unreliable and of low voltage, often available only
after mid night when they have no use for it, which rendered the connection useless for them. This
was also due to small capacity of distribution transformer, coupled with massive power theft.
•
Power needs : 88 % of the respondents preferred electricity supply after sunset and 32% of the
respondents demanded electricity for noon as well. People acknowledged and expressed its
importance for better living conditions. They preferred electricity for multiple activities such as
children's studies (86%), cooking (50%) and other household chores (6%).
KEY LEARNING
•
Appliances – TV and/or fans were found at 64% HHs. These were the most used appliances after
Lighting & mobile charging
•
Consumptive Vs Productive : It was realized that 76% wanted power only for consumptive
purpose and the remaining respondents wanted power for both consumptive and productive
purpose.
•
Awareness of alternatives : Considerable awareness about solar system alternatives was
observed among the respondents, with a significant willingness to pay for it, especially in a case
where monthly payment options existed
•
Long lasting power cuts: Households with 18+ hours of electrifications (13) also asked for
alternatives like solar lighting, 4 of them already had some alternative to avoid darkness during
days of transformer failures, which will lead to a black out for several days , sometimes extending to
a week.
•
Basic needs : Every single respondent agreed to task lighting and mobile charging as their
basic needed. They all agreed that 4 hours of these services with reliability is a must have for
them, and anything beyond that is also beneficial.
AWARENESS ON ENERGY
ACCESS ALTERNATIVES
Alternatives
RGGVY
Solar lights
Awareness about
scheme/product
10%
78%
Own a
connection/product
32%
6%
Want to own
80%
95%
• Even though people were electrified under RGGVY scheme, they were not aware about the
scheme. Due to a few satisfied users in some villages and/or some relatives using a solar light,
the awareness about solar lighting products was considerably high.
• Although grid connection can provide many more services compared to a solar light, people
understood the huge quality and reliability issue of the grid connection and wanted to own a solar
light as a reliable mean to lighten up their homes
COMPARISON OF POPULAR OPTIONS
• The 108 respondents from 6 villages were enquired about their awareness of a few
solar based micro energy options
• If they were not aware, the products were shown to them and their willingness to pay
for such a service/product was examined and was matched against the actual cost
Options
Solar Home
System
Solar Home
System- EMI
Solar Lantern
Solar Lantern
- EMI
Solar Micro
Grid
Cost
₹ 6,000₹ 50,000
₹ 300/month –
₹ 2000/ month
₹ 500 –
₹ 2500
₹ 100/ month
₹ 100/month₹ 150/ month
Awareness
14%
0%
78%
5%
0%
Willingness to
pay full cost
5%
18%
14%
63%
85%
• Upon seeing and understanding the choice between an energy product Vs an energy
service, mostly people wished for service.
• Even with services, people preferred a solar micro grid model since it gave them the
feel of a conventional electric system (grid like, with reliability and quality)
THE PEOPLE’S OUTLOOK
•
Upon understanding the needs and demands of the end customers in the survey area we
tried to develop a matrix. This matrix took into account their actual power requirement,
hours of usage, total energy requirement. Based on these they were divided into 2 rural
and 1 semi-rural categories.
•
Matrix explains cost of the system that would be required to provide these houses with
energy as per their needs and also the monthly revenue that should be collected to make
the system economically sustainable.
•
So the matrix was built on by adding 3 additional dimensions to it
• Capital expenditure required to provide the facility
• Minimum revenue required to provide such customers in a commercially viable model
• Typical appliances that can be powered at such level of access
Dimensions of
electricity access
Unit
Rural Poor
Rural Middle Income
Rural High Income &
Small Town
Power (up to)
[W]
1
50
200
Usage
[h/day]
4
6
12
Energy (less than)
[Wh/day]
4
300
2400
Energy infra cost
₹
3000
15,000
70,000
Minimum Revenue
₹ / month
120
450
1600
Willing to Pay
% respondents
88%
34%
7%
Energy Services
Task light
X
X
X
Phone Charging
X
X
X
Home lighting
X
X
Fan
X
X
•
•
TV/Radio
X
Productive Appliance
X
It was realized that the willingness to pay by rural poor and middle income groups was at par with the
minimum revenue that was required to make a solar micro grid model commercially viable for their village
As per the requirements expressed by various potential end users of electricity, customized energy
delivery models could and should be designed to create energy access to fulfil the basic energy needs of
the under-electrified rural customers
Thank You