Affordable Power for Rural Electrification in India

The agrarian economy relies on electricity for moving towards inclusive and sustainable Development Growth. Sustainable, Affordable, Accessible and Reliable Power to rural India by DISCOMs is considered a social service rather than a commercially viable one. The high investment cost of electricity transmission and distribution networks in rural India is a challenge DISCOMs tackle as DISCOMs would not be able to recover the cost. Hence, any investment in the rural area is a challenge. Rural Electrification is a formidable task with low population density, low electricity consumer density, and low consumption density. The DISCOMs provide electricity to rural consumers at subsidised cost much lower than its actual cost of supply (ACS), which compromises quality and reliability. Thus despite 100% Village electrification and almost 99.9% household electrification, 100% access is not achieved. This paper explores the hurdles in rural electrification in India and the challenges and experiences in last-mile electricity distribution. The discussion in the paper highlights that rural electro- entrepreneurs with the use of RE sources/microgrids/micro hydel would be able to do it if there are favourable policies. The policy encouragement to rural electro-entrepreneurs can increase the access to electricity using renewable energy for rural distribution in India, which can address the sustainability goal of universal access to modern energy, decarbonisation and meeting SDG 7.