Odisha Ranks 3rd in Per Capita Electricity Consumption, Leads Among Eastern States
Bhubaneswar: Odisha, which was the first state in the country in implementing power distribution reforms in the 1990s, has seen a drastic change in the way electricity is distributed and consumed in recent years.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a statutory body of Union ministry of power in its annual report titled 'All India Energy Statistics 2023' has ranked the state as first in the eastern region and third in the list of Indian states in terms of per capita electricity consumption at 2,264 kWh in 2021-22, behind only Goa and Punjab.
Compared to last year, this rank has gone up by 4 spots. In the last 3 financial years, the per capita consumption of electricity in the state has gone up from 1,559 to 2,264 , which is almost 31.13 per cent rise.
The Odisha state government's decision to privatise the distribution sector through a public private partnership with Tata Power has seen encouraging results. This has reflected not just in the high level of industrialisation and urbanization in the state but also the improved 'ease of getting electricity connection' for rural households and significantly improved the ease of getting connection.
Now, a prospective consumer can get a new connection in just four simple steps — registration, document submission, payment and verification and meter installation. The discoms have not only reduced the steps involved in the connection process but also digitised them, making the process simpler and ensuring customer delight.
Since 2020 discoms have given over 10 lakhs new connections in urban and rural Odisha combined.
Backed by the recent tariff order by Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), which makes the state amongst the states with least industrial tariffs and the state government's push for 'Invest in Odisha,' Odisha has emerged as a Juggernaut for industrial development and has successfully converted itself from an agrarian state to an industrialised state.
The TP Odisha discoms have cumulatively invested around Rs 3,000 crore in network augmentation and technological integration since privatisation. It has also pledged to invest Rs 3,000 crore more in the next few years.
