FUELLING CHANGE
From the electrification of all villages to bringing cooking gas within reach of the poor, energy efficiency has been the government’s mantra
In a country where burning waste constitutes 24 per cent of the energy basket, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has been a huge stride towards energy efficiency. Nearly 40 million poor households have received LPG cylinders under the scheme in the past two years. Likewise, under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, 19,727 villages have been electrified—the last being Manipur’s Leisang village on April 29. In September last year, with an outlay of Rs 16,320 crore, a target was set to bring electricity to some 38 million households.
Preliminary surveys show these new LPG consumers keep the fuel for back-up, but government agencies are confident of a gradual lifestyle change at the bottom of the pyramid. The relatively low prices of petroleum products between 2014 and early 2018 ensured petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had ample time to eliminate subsidies on petrol and diesel, which positively impacted the balance sheets of oil marketing companies.
During this period, India also switched to direct benefit transfer (DBT) of subsidies on cooking gas and kerosene. This effectively ensured near-zero pilferage of public money. Pradhan says DBT saved the exchequer Rs 21,000 crore.
In the ministry of power and new & renewable energy, Piyush Goyal, and now R.K. Singh, are spearheading the reforms. Goyal’s biggest achievement perhaps was convincing most states to join the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana, a revival plan under which the debts of discoms were to be transferred to the respective balance sheets of states in return for a commitment to improve performance. Today, the installed power capacity is a robust 344 GW, with peak load getting the added support of 69 GW from renewable resources.
The challenge is the evacuation of power for distribution. Due to a weak intra-state distribution network and a poor bill collection mechanism, ensuring round-the-clock power supply remains an issue for now.