From linesmen to local leaders: How does informal governance influence India's electricity policy outcomes?

IF 6.9 2区经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Energy Research & Social Science Pub Date : 2025-04-02 DOI:10.1016/j.erss.2025.104056

Kanika Balani , Bharat Sharma , Shalu Agrawal

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Global progress toward universal electricity access (Goal 7) underpins the success of several other sustainable development goals (SDGs), given the role of electricity in powering lives, livelihoods, businesses, and community services. In India, the world's most populous country, a suite of policies, programmes and regulatory reforms have focussed on bridging the electricity access gap with significant success. However, many regions in India continue to grapple with an unreliable and poor-quality electricity supply, despite repeated reform measures. This is symptomatic of a vicious cycle of poor revenue recovery by electricity utilities, inadequate investment in infrastructure, electricity theft, and poor payment discipline among electricity users. Breaking this cycle requires understanding how policies function in practice, and the underlying causes of deviation from policy goals.

The literature points to a strong influence of the political economy on electricity sector governance. This study explores how informal governance and local socio-economic factors influence policy outcomes concerning electricity access in India. To do so, we use the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to analyse the interactions among key local actors in Malihabad, an electricity distribution region in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Our research indicates a complex layering of institutional rules that shape the decisions of local actors, providing both constraints and opportunities, and allowing for discretionary powers to the local actors such as the linesmen, village heads, and outsourced agents of the distribution company (discom), beyond formal roles. Further, the interplay of socio-economic realities, local social relations, and institutional conditions affect governance outcomes, often deviating from the intended policy goals. We argue that informal governance, rather than being viewed as a problem to solve, should be understood as a valuable resource that can inform and guide policy decisions for more effective outcomes.

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来源期刊

Energy Research & Social Science ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES-

CiteScore

14.00

自引率

16.40%

发文量

441

审稿时长

55 days

期刊介绍： Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers. Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.