The Centre’s household electrification programme will get Rs 4,000-crore budgetary support this year according to Power Secretary, A. K. Bhalla. Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a Bureau of Energy Efficiency event to mark the launch of Trading of Energy Saving Certificates, Bhalla said, “The Power Ministry will seek additional gross budgetary support of Rs 4,000 crore.” This will be mobilised through the supplementary demand for grants, he said. This amount will be focused on electrifying rural households under the Saubhagya scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The government is targeting the completion of household electrification by December 2018. Industry observers believe that this represents a natural transition of government policy from electrification of villages to connecting households. Access to energy is central to development and this initiative to expedite that access is strongly positive for growth.
An official statement said the Saubhagya scheme has a total outlay of Rs 16,320 crore. Of this, gross budgetary support is Rs 12,320 crore. For rural households, the outlay is Rs 14,025 crore, of which the Gross Budgetary Support is Rs 10,587.50 crore. For urban households, the outlay stands at Rs 2,295 crore, of which the gross budgetary support stands at Rs 1,732.50 crore.