Plugging In: A Collection of Insights on Electricity Use in Indian Homes

Abstract

Electricity use in Indian homes – from lights, ceiling fans, televisions, refrigerators, among other appliances – has increased 50 times between today and 1971, even though India’s per capita residential electricity consumption is less than a third of the world average. Residential electricity now outpaces growth in industrial, commercial and agriculture sectors. This striking statistic is on the increase, as India moves towards one of the largest urban transitions in history in the coming decades. What is the implication of this transition for household electricity use, as the urban population grows and income levels rise? What do we know about how electricity is currently used in homes across the country? And what drives our dramatically changing consumption patterns? These questions form the basis of a series on residential electricity consumption, jointly authored by the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and the Prayas (Energy Group), Pune. The collected insights that formed the series are compiled in this document.

Full text

PLUGGINGIN
Radhika Khosla
Centre for Policy Research
Aditya Chunekar
Prayas (Energy Group)
RESEARCH REPORT
A COLLECTION OF INSIGHTS ON
ELECTRICITY USE IN INDIAN HOMES


CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH
cprindia.org
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) has been one of India's
leading public policy think tanks since 1973. The Centre is a
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to conducting research that contributes to the production of
        
public discourse about the structures and processes that
shape life in India.
       
        
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        
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PRAYAS (ENERGY GROUP)
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      
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      
and policy issues in the energy and electricity sectors. Our
activities cover research and intervention in policy and
  
to civil society groups. Prayas Energy Group has contributed
         
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   
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Priya Rathod for their valuable contributions to data analysis. Parts of the research conducted by CPR covered in this series is

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
The research conducted by Prayas (Energy Group) covered in this series has been possible through on-going grants provided by
              

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

Corresponding Authors:
aditya@prayaspune.org


Electricity use in Indian homes – from lights, ceiling fans, televisions, refrigerators, among other appliances – has increased 50 times between
today and 1971, even though India’s per capita residential electricity consumption is less than a third of the world average. Residential electricity
now outpaces growth in industrial, commercial and agriculture sectors. This striking statistic is on the increase, as India moves towards one
of the largest urban transitions in history in the coming decades. What is the implication of this transition for household electricity use, as the
urban population grows and income levels rise? What do we know about how electricity is currently used in homes across the country? And what
drives our dramatically changing consumption patterns?These questions form the basis of a series on residential electricity consumption, jointly
authored by the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and the Prayas (Energy Group), Pune. The collected insights that formed the series are
complied in this document.

CONTENTS
1. Electricity Consumption in Indian Homes 1
Radhika Khosla and Aditya Chunekar
2. Trends in India's Residential Electricity Consumption 3
Aditya Chunekar and Sanjana Mulay
3. India's LED Lighting Story 6
Aditya Chunekar and Sanjana Mulay
         
Radhika Khosla and Ankit Bhardwaj
         
Aditya Chunekar and Mrudula Kelkar
        
Radhika Khosla and Ankit Bhardwaj
        
Radhika Khosla
8.        
Aditya Chunekar
        
Radhika Khosla

  
Electricity Consumption in Indian Homes
Radhika Khosla, Centre for Policy Research
Aditya Chunekar, Prayas (Energy Group)



         



                  

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•
          
     






Plugging in : Piece 1
Figure 1: Trend in Residential Electricity Consumption in India (1971-2015). Decimals are approximated to their closest whole numbers.
Source: 
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•
 





              









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REFERENCES




URL http://saubhagya.gov.in/dashboard (accessed 12.27.17).
                 

https://wec-indicators.
enerdata.net/household-electricity-use.html (accessed 12.27.17).
Plugging in : Piece 1

Figure 2: Projections of residential electricity consumption from various studies (base case scenarios)
2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 2028 2032 2036 2040
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REC (TWh)
IESS (2013)
19 th EPS (2017)
18 th EPS (2011)
GBPN (2014)
IEA (2015)

Trends in India's Residential Electricity Consumption
Aditya Chunekar and Sanjana Mulay, Prayas (Energy Group)







data.

          

 




Plugging in : Piece 2
  
Figure 1: Residential Electricity Consumption growth in selected states (2004-2015)
Source: 
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
0
200
400
600
R es iden tia l el ec t ric it y con s ump t ion ( RE C)
8%
6%
12%
11%
CAG R fo r
2004-2015 = 16%
R EC in 2 00 4 = 10 0
As s a m
B iha r
Cha t t is gar h
Del hi
Guj a rat
Jha rkha n d
Ma har a s ht r a
Pu nja b
Ta mil Nadu
Ut ta r P rad esh
W es t B en ga l

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•
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


•                




sector.
•              
 










Plugging in : Piece 2


Source: 
0 50 100 150 200 250
Av era ge mon thl y cons umpt ion per ele ctr ifi ed ho useh old ( kW h)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Hou seh olds wit h el ectr ici ty acces s (%)
As s am
Bi ha r
Chha t t is ga r h
Del hi
Guj ar a t
Ha r ya na
Jh ar k ha nd
Ka r na ta k a
Ma dhya Pr ade sh
Ma ha r a sh t ra
Or is s a
Pun ja b
R aj as t ha n
Ta mil N adu
Ut ta r Pr ade sh
W est Be ngal
P
o
p
u
l
a
t
i
o
n
18,149,450
50,000,000
100,000,000
150,000,000
216,214,607



                 




REFERENCES
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



http://saubhagya.gov.in/dashboard (accessed 12.27.17).
         https://www.uday.gov.in/national_parameter_dashboard.
php?id=9 (accessed 12.27.17).


http://www.watchyourpower.
org/the_initiative.php (accessed 12.28.17).
http://www.hindustantimes.com/. URL http://
www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/delhi-govt-approves-proposal-to-continue-50-subsidy-on-power-bills/story-ODMapGl59cbDKFWoLMYaDI.html (accessed
12.27.17).
 

https://wec-indicators.
enerdata.net/household-electricity-use.html (accessed 12.27.17).
Plugging in : Piece 2
  
Figure 3: Households in India according to monthly consumption (in kWh or units)
22 %
26 %
31 %
18 %
2%
28 %
32 %
30 %
10 %
13 %
16 %
33 %
33 %
1%
4%
Cons umpt ion Catego ry ( units )
0 -30
31- 50
51 - 10 0
10 1 - 30 0
30 1 - 50 0
>50 0
Urban Rural All india
Source: NSSO

Plugging in : Piece 3

India's LED Lighting Story
Aditya Chunekar and Sanjana Mulay, Prayas (Energy Group)


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

Figure 1: Sales trends of lighting devices in India
Source: ELCOMA
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
0
200
400
600
800
Qua ntit y ( mill ions )
780
904
453 448
285
562
251
234 257
381
812
797
401
340
225
182 200
855
758
304 245
194
757
Tube Lights
LED bulbs Incandescent lamps
CFLs

Plugging in : Piece 3
  


the end of its useful life.

                   




Figure 2: Share of lighting sources in the surveyed households
Figure 3: Lighting options replaced by LED bulbs bought under UJALA for surveyed households
Source: 
Source: 
5%
20%
37%
37%
3%
13%
54%
21%
25%
49%
18%
1% 7 % 9%
In candes cent bulbs
CFLs
LE D bulbs (includi ng UJ ALA bul bs )
Tube li ghts
Ot her LE D light ing
Pune Lucknow Puducherry
Pu ne Lucknow P uducher r y
46%
46%
2 % 5 %
80 %
11 % 2 %
26 %
54 %
16 %
4 % 6 %
In candes cent bulb CFL T ube li ght Other

Plugging in : Piece 3










 



REFERENCES


http://www.ujala.gov.in/ (accessed 12.28.17).
Table 1: Comparison between low, medium, and high income households surveyed, Pune
Figure 4: Failure rate and exchange rate of UJALA bulbs (for surveyed consumers)
Source: 
Source: 

replaced  



    3
   27 
High  3.2 22 
2%
6%
14%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
Pune Lucknow Puducherry
Bulb Failure Rate
30%
24%
10%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Pune Lucknow Puducherry
Exchange rate of failed bulbs


  

Centre for Policy Research



       
 
          



      






  

Household assets and LED penetration





Source: 
Lighting by type in total stock (n=2600)
CFLs and Tubes 17%
CFLs and Tubes 17%
Incandescent 20%
Incandescent 20%
LEDs 63%
LEDs 63%








     



Figure 3: Lighting ownership across the consumption asset index (standardized for number of rooms)

Source: 
Source: 
BSUP EWS LIG
LED
48%
90% 93%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
45%
32% 36%
28%
13% 14%
27%
8% 8%
ICBs Tube CFLs
% of all households
Number of LEDs, incandescent, Tubelights per room
Consumption Asset Decile
Average number of light type per room
0-10% 10-20% 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
LED/ room Incadescent Lights/room Tubelight or CFL/room



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 
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


 
           

    
        



dependent lighting use patterns.
REFERENCES
    
           
traditional-incandescents (accessed 12.27.17).


Delhi.

Figure 4: Awareness rates of the LED and Smart Cities schemes
Source: 
% of all households
% of all households
Awareness of UJALA LED scheme Awareness of Smart Cities Mission
100%
80%
37%
65%
74%
0% 1% 1%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
BSUP EWS LIG BSUP EWS LIG




Aditya Chunekar and Mrudula Kelkar, Prayas (Energy Group)




                     

             




Mandate and tighten standards






Figure 1: BEE star label for air-conditioner



         




abroad (Figure 3).
Mandatory Appliances Voluntary Appliances
Frost Free Refrigerators Induction Motors
 
 Ceiling Fans
 

Ceiling) Washing Machine
Direct Cool Refrigerators 
Electric Geysers 
 

Solid state inverters
Diesel Generators


Figure 2: List of appliances on the Standards and Labeling (S&L) Programme

cool refrigerator and 300 litre frost-free refrigerator.)
Source: 
Air Condit ione r Dir ect Cool R ef rig era tor Fr ost Fr ee R ef rig era tor
2010 2012 2014 2016 2010 2012 2014 2016 2010 2012 2014 2016
0
500
1000
1500
E nerg y cons umpt ion (kW h/y ear )
St ar 1
St ar 5
St ar 1
St ar 5
St ar 1
St ar 5









         

   



 

       
savings.
Figure 4: Appliance production across star-labels (in millions)
Source: 
Fr ost Fr ee R ef riger at or
0M
1M
2M 1.58M
0.55M
0.54M
0.75M
1.56M
0.35M
0.66M
0.35M
0.38M
0.28M 0.29M 0.63M
0.76M 1.25M
0.40M 0.33M 0.71M 0.60M
Dir ect Cool R ef rigerat or
0M
2M
4M
6M
8M
3.51M
3.25M 2.65M
2.19M 1.72M
1.11M
2.50M
3.40M 2.80M
3.17M
1.98M
1.07M
1.36M
1.82M
1.88M
3.64M
1.04M 1.12M
1.26M 1.32M
1.92M 2.30M
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
Air Condit ione r
0M
2M
4M
6M
1.03M 1.26M
1.60M
0.90M
1.03M 1.35M 2.50M 2.82M 3.78M
1.07M 1.28M 1.13M 0.92M
R at i ng Star 5 Star 4 Star 3 Star 2 Star 1




                  
          





                


REFERENCES
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https://beestarlabel.com/Home/MinutesMeeting
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http://
 (accessed 12.27.17).



Research Centre London.




Centre for Policy Research
       




    




         










Figure 1: Proportion of households availing energy services by time of day
Source: 
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Time of Day
Percentage of households
using the appliance
lights fans tv fridge washing
5AM−8AM 8AM−11AM 11AM−1PM 1PM−4PM 4PM−7PM 7PM−10PM 10PM−1AM
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
6.62
24.75 26.33
17.7
23.45
58.71
37.12
12.09
19.86
25.18
30.36
23.74 25.9
43.45
2.73
9.78
15.25
19.42 21.15
33.24
19.42
24.89
26.62 28.63 28.92 28.2 28.63 30.65
01.15 0.14 0.14 0 0 0.14


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




Source: 
BSUP
Fans Televisions Fridges
EWS LIG
% of all households
100%
84%
90%
85%
75%
84%
74%
37% 37%
61%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%


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






Source: 
Source: 
Fan Fridge TV
Asset Decile
Fans, Fridge, TV Ownership Vs. Asset Declie
Average Number per Home
0-10% 10-20% 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%
3
2
1
0
BSUP EWS LIG
Fans Televisions Fridges
% of all households
80%
3% 1% 3% 1% 2% 2%
53%
57%
61%
60%
40%
20%
0%



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


 
 



 




country.
REFERENCES



Plugging in :Piece 7


Radhika Khosla, Centre for Policy Research
          






  


•
•
•




 
developing countries.







its households (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Comparisons of annual per capita residential electricity use
Source: 
NCR (2017)
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
India (2015)
China (2015)
USA (2015)
Delhi (2015)

Plugging in : Piece 7






                  
conducted for the Delhi (not NCR) region (Figure 3).





         

  


       

Figure 2: Appliances penetration rate in the NCR

Source: Electrifying the National Capital Region. Khosla and Sircar (in preparation).
Source: Electrifying the National Capital Region. Khosla and Sircar (in preparation).
Fan TV Fridge AC Appliances Cooler Washing Machine Water Purifier
Percentage of Households
0 20 40 60 80 100
99.4 96.95
87.24
18.84
81.96
50.21
38
Percentage of Households
0 20 40 60 80 100
NCR Survey CASI NSS 2011 (Delhi Average)
Census − 2011 (NCT of Delhi Average) Desai & Vanneman − 2015, ------- by Prayas 2016 (Delhi Average)
99.4
NA
97
100 96.46
88 87.4
80
89.31
NA
68.4 70
23.97
NA NA
10
54.17
44.6
NA NA
Fan TV Fridge AC Washing Machine

Plugging in : Piece 7

 



                 
 
              





REFERENCES
 https://doi.
org/10.1073/pnas.1423558112
               https://www.eia.gov/
electricity/data/browser (accessed 12.28.17).

             http://data.stats.gov.cn/english/easyquery.htm?cn=C01
(accessed 12.28.17).



            https://www.census.gov/main/www/cprs.html
(accessed 12.28.17).
Figure 4: Cooling appliance ownership patterns as a function of the asset index
Source: Electrifying the National Capital Region. Khosla and Sircar (in preparation).
0−10% 10−20% 20−30% 30−40% 40−50% 50−60% 60−70% 70−80% 80−90%
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Consumption Asset Decile Vs Probability of owning at least one appliance
Consumption Asset Decile
Probability of owning at least one appliance
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Fan Cooler AC

Plugging in : Piece 8


Aditya Chunekar, Prayas (Energy Group)
          
           
       




   





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
       
 


               



locations across the country.

Source: 
Air Condi oners
Air Coolers
Ceiling Fans
Geysers
Incandescent
Bulbs
Televisions
Tube Lights
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
BEE I ESS (2012) Murt hy (2001) Prayas (2008) TERI (2008) Wor ld Bank (2008)
Annual appliance usage hours

Plugging in : Piece 8
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           
              
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
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

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

Figure 2: Comparison of load curves between households with basic appliances with high power appliances like air-conditioner, electric
water-heater, and microwave oven, in addition to basic appliances.
Source: 
4 A M 1 0 AM 4 P M 10 PM
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
Active power (W)
Hou seh old t ype
B asic applia nces Hi gh pow er a ppli ance s

Plugging in : Piece 8
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
REFERENCES
https://beeindia.gov.in/content/capacity-building-discoms
(accessed 12.27.17).
http://www.watchyourpower.
org/the_initiative.php (accessed 12.28.17).

Figure 3: Load curves for refrigerators
Source: 
4 A M 1 0 A M 4 P M 1 0 P M
0
5 0
100
150
Ac ti ve po we r ( W )
R e f r ig e ra t o r t y pe
3 ye ar old, 5 s tar rat ed 1 5 ye ar old, n on st ar r ated

Plugging in : Piece 9


Radhika Khosla, Centre for Policy Research
             
      


          





    



   




Figure 1: Variation in electricity bills for households as per their score on the appliances-asset index
Source: 






  
Electric Bill Amount (Rs.)
HH Size < 4 HH Size >= 4
Asset Index Value
0500 1000 1500 2000
-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.5 1.5

    
                
      







             

        


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


;



REFERENCES

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085428

Plugging in : Piece 9


dharma marg , ch ana kyapu ri, new delhi 110021
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