Analyzing Electricity Use and Its Relationship with Electricity Quality in Rural India

Abstract

Rural electrification in India is progressing rapidly, and most households nationwide are now connected to the electricity grid. However, the country's electricity consumption remains low, and poor electricity quality continues to constrain households' electricity use, especially in rural areas of the northern Gangetic plain. Measuring the electricity access by connection rates alone is insufficient, because poor and intermittent electricity quality impacts electricity use. First, this study investigates the quantity and ways in which families use electricity by adopting ESMAP's 2015 Multitier Framework. Then, it considers the relationship between electricity use and multiple dimensions of electricity quality using regressions that relate electrical appliance ownership indicators (as dependent variables) to these quality attributes, controlling for household and community characteristics. Using data from a survey conducted in the summer of 2018 from 500 households in the border region of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the study finds that nearly all rural households have low levels of electricity use. The evidence of this study also supports the idea that electricity supply quality is a severely limiting factor inhibiting electricity use. These results point to the need for policies that would increase electricity use through enhancements of the power system, such as the transmission and distribution lines.