My Home is Solar Powered Now

My home in my native village Khandoi of District Bulandshahr of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) State of India is now provided with a 80 watt Solar Panel, a 40 ah Lead-Acid Battery, a Battery Charge Controller, a Power Invertor for meeting its electricity needs, with loads of a Laptop Computer (about 60 watt), and a few CFLs and LED Lamps for illumination. The Home being naturally ventilated through induced drafts needs no fans in any room. With these provisions, I am free to work on my Computer anytime without waiting for electricity supply from State-owned Electricity Distribution Mains.

So far I was dependent for getting electricity on Electricity Distribution Mains which has gone highly unreliable in availability and voltage stability of electricity supply. On an average, the village gets electricity for only 4 hours a day, for which there is no fixed schedule. It might be available and might go off at any time. Hence, for most of the time the villagers remain on their toes for working with electricity supply.  Supply voltage keeps on randomly fluctuating between 100 to 400 volts, thus damaging electrical equipment and gadgets fed with such an erratic electricity supply.

A third factor which too became important to me is recent two-fold increment in electricity tariff for rural consumers, most of whom have small loads of about 100 to 200 watts. Charges for the electricity supply are fixed at INR 915.00 for every two months. This amount is equivalent to vegetable bills of an average family. This way, it has become very costly to get connected to electricity supply mains in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

A strange factor about electricity distribution administration is that 80 percent of electricity consumers in rural areas are connected to the Mains in unauthorized way, hence they pay nothing for consuming any amount of electricity. Hence, cost of electricity generation, transmission and distribution is recovered from authorized consumers only through increments in their electricity bills. In this dishonesty, whole lot of electricity distribution officials are in league with the dishonest people, and the politicians in authority keep on safeguarding their interests. This way, Government of the State is penalizing honest people to safeguard interests of dishonest people of the State. I am now freed from such a nuisance by the Government of the State.