When it comes to have a power play of 24X7 in the rural areas, Odisha was unable to have the full scoring rate as it could provide power (not quality power) for around 21 hours only to villages and that too, during the winter months (Jan-Feb) in 2016. This shows Odisha is not among the 24X7 powered States in the country now.
This revelation has come to the fore when the State Discoms (distribution companies) here recently put forth the supply position of power in rural areas to Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) during a review.
It comes as a big shocker for the State Government when data available on public domain shows that States like Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal in the neighbourhood score bang on the target to have a perfect 24X7 power supply in the rural areas in 2016. In the neighbourhood, Odisha only has a better rural power supply position than Bihar and Jharkhand, and better than UP and Bihar among the BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) States in the country.
For the rural populace, this comes as a distressing fact because in the neighbourhood, the rural electricity tariff, except West Bengal, is much lower than Odisha. While a domestic consumer in Odisha pays around Rs 3.28 for consumption of a unit, its Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh rural counterpart respectively pays around Rs 2.40 and Rs 3 per unit of consumption. However, the tariff a West Bengal rural consumers pays is over Rs 5/unit.
Significantly, when all the above States have different rates for rural and urban consumers, ostensibly for poorer supply quality in villages, Odisha maintains a uniform rate. The poor rural power play here looks quite telling when the State still(as of March 31, 2016) has the largest fleet of un-electrified villages (2, 210 villages) in the country. Over it is a whopping 44 lakh rural households in the State still having no electricity connections. Moreover, the rural demand is also not staggering as data with OERC suggests the consumption per rural household per day on average in 2014-15 works out at mere around 2.2 units only.
What looks imminent then from the above factual meter is power supply position in Odisha has gone bleak over the years, despite no appreciable rise in rural power demand. A look at the energy requirement vis-a-vis the availability in the State for the period from 2012-13 to 2015-16 puts in perspective the lingering deficit scenario in the State. While the energy requirement in the State increased to 26, 452 Million Units (MU) in 2014-15 from around 25,100 MU in 2012-13, the energy available to the State rose to around 26,000 MU in 2014-15 from around 24,300 MU in 2012-13.
But the State still has recorded a net deficit in energy requirement during the period. Significantly, energy deficit is recorded in almost all States in the country from 2012-13 to 2014-15 but the deficit range of West Bengal and Chhattisgarh is lesser than Odisha.