Lok Sabha Question No. 3887 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-23
Subject: Electricity and Load Shedding Problems
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Chirag Paswan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3887

## ANSWERED ON 23.03.2023

## ELECTRICITY AND LOAD SHEDDING PROBLEMS

†3887.  SHRI CHIRAG KUMAR PASWAN:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Union Government has proposed any plan/scheme to meet the need of electricity in  Bihar  and  if  so,  the  nature  of  the  scheme  as  most  of  the rural areas are still facing shortage of electricity and load shedding problems;
- (b) whether any comprehensive solar power or wind energy-based project has been  prepared  to  overcome  the  shortage  of  electricity  and  if  so,  the  progress made in said field;
- (c) whether the Union Government is contemplating any scheme to bring down the cost of power generation to make it more affordable for the poor people of the State; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## A N S W E R

## THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) :   Under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and thereafter, under  Pradhan  Mantri  Sahaj  Bijli  Har  Ghar  Yojana  SAUBHAGYA,  all  States including Bihar had declared electrification of all census villages on 28.04.2018 and  all  willing  Households  on  31.03.2022,  respectively.  While,  a  total  of  18374 villages  were  electrified  under  DDUGJY,  a  total  of  2.86  crore  households  were electrified under the ageis of SAUBHAGYA including additional households under DDUGJY (new).

Government  of  India  launched  the  Revamped  Distribution  Sector  Scheme (RDSS) in July, 2021 with the objective of improving the quality and reliability of power  supply  to  consumers  through  a  financially  sustainable  and  operationally efficient  Distribution  Sector  in  the  country. The  Scheme  has  an  outlay  of Rs.3,03,758 crore and an estimated Gross Budgetary support of Rs.97,631 crores  from  Government  of  India.  The  duration  of  the  scheme  is  5 Years (2021-22 to 2025-26).

.........2.

Under  the  Scheme,  financial  assistance  is  being  provided  to  the  eligible DISCOMs i.e. all DISCOMs/Power Departments (excluding Private Sector DISCOMs)  for  upgradation  of  distribution  infrastructure  including  measures  for reduction of losses and theft by use of ABC cable/UG cable/HVDS, etc., system modernization including SCADA, communicable system metering and smart prepaid metering for 25 crore consumers, etc.

Under  RDSS,  smart  metering  projects  of  Rs.2021.22  crores  and  Loss Reduction works of Rs.7081.05 crores have already been sanctioned for the State of Bihar.

The power supply position of Bihar in terms of  energy  during  the  current year i.e. 2022-23 (period April, 2022 to February, 2023) is given at Annexure.

The  energy  supplied  has  been  commensurate  to  the  energy  requirement. Even this gap between energy requirement and energy supplied is generally on account of factors, other than inadequacy of power availability in the country e.g. constraints  in  distribution  network,  financial  constraints,  commercial  reasons, outages of generating units, etc.

(b) : The government has prepared several solar power and wind energy-based schemes to meet the demand of electricity from green power. The progress made in said field by the Government of India is as follows:

National Solar Mission - The government launched this mission in 2010 with the  aim  of  achieving  100  GW  of  solar  power  (60  GW  utility  scale  and  40  GW rooftop) by 2022. As of February, 2023, India's total utility scale installed solar capacity is around 64.4 GW. The solar power capacity addition in Bihar is 192.88 MW.

Wind Energy Mission - The government launched this mission in 2014 with the aim of achieving 60 GW of wind power by 2022. As on February, 2023, India's total installed wind capacity is around 42 GW.

The likely installed capacity of non-fossil fuel of the country by the end of year 2029-30 will be around 500 GW.

- (c) & (d) : The Union Government is promoting efficiency in generation of power from  coal  based  thermal  power  project.  At  the  same  time,  generation  from  RE projects  is  also  being  promoted.  This  will  ensure  generation  of  electricity  at cheaper rates.

Further, grant to States by Central Government for capital expenditure in distribution network also keeps cost of electricity for consumers in control.

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ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3887 ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 23.03.2023 ************** The power supply position of Bihar in terms of energy during the current year i.e. 2022-23 (period April, 2022 to February, 2023)

|                          | ENERGY (MU)        | ENERGY (MU)     | ENERGY (MU)         | ENERGY (MU)         |
|--------------------------|--------------------|-----------------|---------------------|---------------------|
|                          | Energy requirement | Energy supplied | Energy not supplied | Energy not supplied |
| Year                     | ( MU )             | ( MU )          | ( MU )              | ( % )               |
| 2022-23 (upto Feb, 2023) | 36,635             | 35,873          | 762                 | 2.1                 |

(*) Provisional

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