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

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.