Social perception on Electricity Needs a Change in Bihar

Patna: Contrary to treating electricity as a right, governments in low-income countries should treat it as a private good, according to an international report prepared after studying the power situation in Bihar. This will help resolve the problem in Bihar, says the study released on Tuesday.

According to the study, less than 50 percent of consumers of all income levels paid their electricity bills. It shows bigger consumers are as likely to fail to pay bills as smaller ones and it’s not an issue of an expensive redistribution programme, but of the entire electricity market. Also, the power authority in Bihar collects just 30 per cent of the cost of supplying power and less than 20 percent of the official rate.

Thus, the distribution firms lose Rs 70 for every Rs 100 of power supplied. They, therefore, limit their losses by limiting the supply — no consumer gets 24 hours of electricity, the average consumer gets about 12 hours a day, and some areas only 6 hours a day. As a result, some consumers value electricity at more than its costs but are unable to purchase it.

“Surprisingly, we find no relationship between payment rates and the amount of electricity supplied to a given area,” said Burgess, IGC Director and LSE Professor. “It’s a serious indication that the power market is not functioning effectively,” Burgess said. (IANS)

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