Economic Survey 2025: Rural areas get 21.9 hours of power supply daily on an average

India's daily average power supply in urban areas has improved from 22.1 hours in FY14 to 23.4 hours in FY24, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in the Parliament on January 31. The report further stated that power supply in rural areas improved substantially from 12.5 hours in FY14 to 21.9 hours.

Besides, the gap between energy demand and supply also declined from 4.2 per cent in FY14 to a mere 0.1 per cent by December 2024. As many as 18,374 villages have been electrified under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and 2.9 crore households have gained access to electricity through the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA), introduced in 2017.

This was achieved with India's expanding power sector network, which saw its installed capacity rising by 7.2 per cent year on-year to 456.7 GW as of November 2024. However, the economic survey stated that the addition of transmission lines was affected by the heavy monsoon conditions that hampered work.

In the shift towards renewable energy, the power sector has been bolstered primarily by large scale solar and wind initiatives. By the end of December 2024, the country's total renewable energy installed capacity increased by 15.8 per cent year-on-year, reaching 209.4 GW, up from 180.8 GW in December 2023. Renewable energy now constitutes about 47 per cent of India's total installed capacity, highlighting a growing dependence on cleaner, non-fossil fuel-based energy sources, the report stated.