India becomes a guiding light for rural residents
New Delhi, March 05: Rural household faces uncertain power cuts. Planning daily work according to power supply timings is the daily routine in many villages. But now the picture has changed and the average rural power supply duration has increased from 12.5 hours in 2014-15 to 18.5 hours in 2019-20. This was informed by R.K Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Power. He was addressing the members of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Power on 3rd March 2021.
Minister explained that some of the major reform initiatives which Ministry of power has recently undertaken include Universal Access to Electricity; Reliable, Quality, and Sustainable Supply; Empowering Consumers and Green and Clean Nation. “We have achieved the target of One Nation-One Grid- One Frequency with the addition of Transmission Lines of 1.42 lakh km and Transformation Capacity of 437 MVA in FY 15-20”, he informed.
He mentioned that 100% village electrification has been achieved 13 days before target while 100% Household electrification has been achieved under the Saubhagya scheme. He also informed about the steps taken by ministry for the empowerment of consumers. The Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules were rolled out by Power Ministry in December 2020, with emphasis that the power system exists to serve consumers with mandated service standards and mandatory round-the-clock call centers.
Singh explained the provisions on distribution competition in the Proposed Electricity(Amendment) Bill, 2021. Under the 2021 bill, multiple distribution companies will be allowed to operate in the area of supply. The promotion of renewable energy, efforts are on towards working for Renewable Energy target of 175 GW by 2022 under Paris Climate Agreement. Various steps have been taken to promote green and renewable energy such as waiver of ISTS Charges for Solar and Wind and competitive bidding guidelines for procurements of Wind, Solar, Hybrid, Round The Clock(RTC) power. Stalled hydropower projects of 3470 MW have been revived.