An electricity line running through a village does not mean that every home is connected to it. Saubhagya addressed the remaining distance: the service cable from the pole, the meter and the basic wiring that allowed a household to use power. That modest piece of infrastructure was the centre of a very large national programme. [2]
The government launched Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana on 25 September 2017. Its focus was household access, with connections for remaining willing households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas under the scheme’s conditions. For remote locations where a grid connection was impractical, the design included small solar power packages. [1] [2]
From network coverage to household access
In an August 2024 parliamentary answer, the Power Ministry reported that 2.86 crore households had received electricity connections. The same answer said support continued under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme for households left out of Saubhagya. Both statements belong in the record: the large completed expansion and the remaining work. [3]
The achievement involved Union financing and programme direction, alongside the state electricity systems responsible for connecting consumers and supplying them. It also depended on the accumulated network of generation, transmission and distribution assets. A household connection is the final link in that system.
The scheme’s original documentation was clear that providing a connection did not make subsequent electricity consumption free. Bills and the ability to pay them would continue to shape how much households used their new access. [2]
What households reported
Independent evidence supports the scale of the access expansion while showing its limits. CEEW’s India Residential Energy Survey, published in 2020, found that more than 97% of households were connected to the grid. Average reported daily supply was 20.6 hours; rural households received less than urban households. [4]
The survey also found substantial exposure to daily outages. This is a historical assessment, not a description of supply everywhere today. It nevertheless demonstrates why electrification and reliability require separate measures. The presence of a meter answers a different question from whether a fan runs through a hot night or a household can plan around predictable supply. [4]
The connection drive removed an important physical barrier for millions of families. Keeping that access useful requires a continuing service: sound local networks, timely repairs, bills that consumers can understand and tariffs they can afford. Those responsibilities do not end when the last connection in a programme’s register is marked complete. They begin with the consumer’s first month of use.