Power Sector

Aim : 24/7 affordable power by 2022. Budget 2016-17 aims to achieve 100 percent rural electrification by 2018.  100GW of solar capacity by 2022.
Problems plaguing power sector:

• Production- Power shortage (Demand Supply mismatch). Power plants are starved of coal. Inadequate linkage between mines and power plants. Higher ash content in coal, Lacking coal washeries. Land Acquisition hurdles. Ex- Nuclear plant
• Transmission and Distribution: Inefficient transmission. High Transmission & Distribution losses. Power theft.
• Growing subsidies by the State governments.
• Lack of transparency in State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.
• Improper audit of the finances of Electricity boards.
• Tariff revisions are not commensurate with increase in costs, which, coupled with system inefficiencies, contribute to losses.

Way forward:

• Promote transparency while bidding for projects.
• Hassle free land acquisition. Sale of surplus power.Lower domestic source requirement for solar panels to increase FDI. 
• UDAY scheme to improve finances of Power distributing companies: State to take upto 75% of their debts.
•  Commercialisation of the utilities is the ultimate solution, with day-to-day operations turned over to professional managers.
• Let users decide from which distribution companies they want to buy electricity.
• Under the separate carriage and content model, one company would own the network while electricity supply would be done by different entities. At present in India, power discoms supply as well as manage network that provides electricity for residential and commercial purposes.