164 CHAPTER 11
viewees pointed out, agriculture is likely to remain a loss-making category for the power utilities unless the tariff is increased to cover the actual cost to the utilities. Such an increase is unlikely to happen any time soon in either of the two states. Decentralization (see below) may resolve this problem to some extent. Another option is linking the tariff to the quality of the electricity provided, as members of the Planning Commission suggested in interviews. The utilities could also devise a scheme by which they offer farmers continuous high-quality power if the farmers are willing to pay for this service. This would be an interesting empirical test of the farmers’ will- ingness to pay. The disadvantage of such a scheme is that it might lead to a “two-class” system in which the better-off farmers pay for high-quality elec- tricity, while the rest are left with an increasingly deteriorating system. Among the technical options for improving the quality of electricity supply to agriculture, using a high-voltage distribution system (HVDS) has received particular attention and is being implemented in both Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Using HVDS requires considerable investment but could substantially reduce electricity theft, because HVDS creates a technical barrier to the illegal tapping of power lines.
From an institutional perspective, one can distinguish between demand- side approaches, supply-side approaches, and combined approaches to improve the quality of electricity supply. Demand-side approaches focus on the ability of the consumers, in this case farmers, to demand better services. Examples are public hearings of the ERCs in which farmers participate, or advisory boards to the commissions on which farmers’ organizations are represented. Another approach is consumer-satis- faction surveys, for example, using the Citizen Report Card method developed by the Public Affairs Center in Bangalore (Samuel 2002). This method is char- acterized by two principles: the survey is conducted in a statistically repre- sentative way by an independent group, for example, an NGO; and the media play an important role in publishing the results, thus creating transparency and pressure on the service providers to improve their services. Supply-side approaches include all measures that the energy utilities (as suppliers) can take to improve the quality of supply. In addition to the technical option mentioned above, a variety of institutional and management approaches could be adopted. As a first step, utilities could provide more transparency about both the quantity and the quality of the electricity sup- plied to agriculture by publishing statistics for each region in a form that is easily accessible (online and print). The ERCs are promoting a move in that direction, especially for urban areas. However, at the time of this research, this information could not be found in a publicly available form for the elec- tricity supply to agriculture. Such information would be essential to improve
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