The face of the Indian power sector is changing. From perpetual deficit, we have moved to a situation of glut at least for certain hours of the day, specifically the solar hours. Both scenarios are painful, though as far as the consumers go, the first was far worse. The situation of glut and the way we are dealing with it is a national waste, but an individual consumer does not really feel the pinch. It is the sector that is suffering.

People will not have forgotten how difficult each summer was in the past with frequent power cuts. The problem also included the quality of supply. Voltage used to drop dramatically in the dusk hours, and it was inadvisable to run a television or a fridge without a voltage stabiliser. If this was the position in urban areas, one can imagine the situation in rural areas, where the number of hours for which supply was available was frequently in the single digits. One can, however, add a caveat. Only people connected to the grid faced the problem of erratic supply.…