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Electricity and Clean Cooking Strategy For India: Round) - in

The document discusses strategies for universal access to clean cooking in India. It argues that electricity should be included as part of the strategy for the following reasons: 1) Universal electrification by 2022 could enable universal clean cooking if electric cooktops were adopted. 2) Relying solely on LPG will take a long time to achieve universal clean cooking given the large number of households currently without access and India's dependence on LPG imports. 3) Electricity is emission-free at the point of use, does not rely on imports, and infrastructure is being developed that could enable its use for cooking nationwide.

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82 views3 pages

Electricity and Clean Cooking Strategy For India: Round) - in

The document discusses strategies for universal access to clean cooking in India. It argues that electricity should be included as part of the strategy for the following reasons: 1) Universal electrification by 2022 could enable universal clean cooking if electric cooktops were adopted. 2) Relying solely on LPG will take a long time to achieve universal clean cooking given the large number of households currently without access and India's dependence on LPG imports. 3) Electricity is emission-free at the point of use, does not rely on imports, and infrastructure is being developed that could enable its use for cooking nationwide.

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Honey Vashishtha
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Electricity and Clean Cooking Strategy for India

By Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog and Anil Kumar Jain, Adviser
(Energy), NITI Aayog

More than two-thirds of rural India uses solid biomass for cooking with its attendant
harmful effects on health [National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), 68th Round]. In
parallel, the country aims to achieve universal electrification by 2022. Theoretically,
if electric cooktops were adopted, universal electrification could translate into
universal clean cooking as well!
As of now, there is no target year to achieve universal clean cooking. Indeed,
considering the magnitude of the task ahead, the current strategy of promoting
liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and efficient biomass cooking via improved cook-stove
may take a while to achieve this important objective. The announcement in Union
Budget (2016-17) of extending LPG connections to 5 crore BPL families in the next 3
years is a major step forward. However, there is a total of over 12 crore households
without a clean cooking solution so that a strategy based on LPG alone may take a
long time to get there. India already imports 50% of its domestic LPG requirement
and international prices of oil and gas are volatile. Therefore, it makes good sense to
include electricity in the overall clean-cooking strategy.
It is likely that for some time to come locally available biomass, LPG and kerosene
will all remain a part of the basket of fuels used for cooking in India. It is our view
that it is time that we make electricity an integral part of this basket. This energy is
emission-free at the point of consumption and therefore alleviates the problem of
black carbon that fills a large number of Indian homes today. Additionally, there is no
problem of availability of power, it is broadly cost-effective, does not have an
import-dependence dimension and is already likely to be delivered to everybody in
the next six years or so. Consistent with governments welfare agenda, electricity
subsidy dispensation is amenable to an efficient direct benefit transfer (DBT), too. In
short, there is plenty in its favour as a cooking energy.
The convenience of electric cooking has led to its adoption as the preferred cooking
energy in virtually all the developed economies of the world. With the largest share
of population in the world that relies on LPG and zero reliance on electricity for
cooking, India is an outlier. This means that substantial scope for the expansion of
electricity as cooking energy exists.
What has held back the country from including electricity in the national strategy?
Perhaps, we chose to go for a two-pronged strategy LPG for urban India, and
biomass for rural India. To be sure, we tried to usher in efficiency in biomass cooking
by promoting improved cook-stoves (normal one and forced-draft type) but until the
recent decision to take LPG to rural India, our strategy remained confined to looking
for stoves that would minimize the emission of smoke indoors. Hence, it may be
stated that for rural India, which comprises 69% of the nations population as per
1

2011 census, we have had no clean cooking fuel strategy until recently. Instead, we
only had an efficient-cook-stove strategy.
And, how has this strategy fared? As per a recent large-scale study by the Council of
Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a think-tank, the coverage of efficient cookstoves in the sample states is not more than 1%! Consequently, the provision in the
Union Budget (2016-17) for the extension of LPG to rural India is a major step
towards freeing Indias rural households from the problem of indoor pollution. While
we rollout this programme to cover five crore households in the next three years, let
us also look at electricity as a complementary solution.
The number of households without clean cooking fuel today is more than twice that
without electricity. An obvious implication is that if we encourage and incentivise
households in both rural and urban areas to use electricity for cooking, the clean
cooking deprivation problem can be solved faster.
According to a NITI Aayog study, the consumption of 8 to 10 LPG cylinders (14.2 kg
each) per year is equivalent to electricity consumption of nearly 4 kWh per day. This
implies that at prevailing electricity prices, the electric solution costs about the same
as the LPG solution at the crude oil price of around $60 per barrel. While the price of
crude is currently below this level, in the long run, we are more likely to face a price
of $50 per barrel or higher. Hence, the electric solution to cooking would be
financially feasible, especially if the government decided to give an electricity
subsidy equivalent to that on LPG.
A potential criticism of electricity-based option concerns adequate availability of
electricity. Electric cooktops are usually of above 1 kWh rating. In contrast, our rural
electrification schemes provide electricity that is just sufficient for lighting and
running fans.
There are two responses to this criticism. First, we could focus on spreading the
electric-cooking solution to urban areas where adequate supply of electricity exists.
This would then release LPG cylinders currently in use in urban areas for distribution
in rural areas.
Second, recognizing that we must eventually provide as much electricity as
demanded at all times even in rural areas, we may consider strengthening electricity
transmission and distribution infrastructure sooner than later. After all, the LPG or
natural gas-based solution in rural areas would also require the creation of a vast
distribution network either in the form of LPG distributors or gas pipelines.
An advantage of the electricity-based solution is that it can make use of solar power
in both urban and rural areas. The solution may be particularly attractive in remote
rural areas where electricity grid may take time to reach but sunshine is plentifully
available and solar energy may be easier to provide.

Another potential criticism of electricity-based solution is that electric cooktops do


not lend themselves to Indian cooking. This is a misconception. During forty years
of living abroad, one of us has had the option to choose between gas and electric
cooktops and he always chose the latter. This never came in the way of cooking
dishes from any parts of India. And, yes, Chapattis do puff up on an electric cooktop
as well as on a gas cooktop. Moreover, the electric cooktop is easier to keep clean!
In concluding, we note that the suggestion here is not to abandon alternative
solutions to Indias indoor pollution problem. Instead, we suggest that electric
cooktop ought to be given serious consideration for inclusion in the basket of
solutions to the problem.

Disclaimer: NITI blogs do not represent the views of either the Government of India or
NITI Aayog. They are intended to stimulate healthy debate and deliberation.

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