Introduction

India is at the cusp of an urban transition, predicted to be one of the largest in global history by 2050. The implications of this transition are many—Indian cities will host 200 million more people by 2030—mostly starting from a low base of development who will demand modern fuels, appliances, air conditioners (ACs), and vehicles for improved quality of life. Demographically, at least 10 million people are expected to enter the Indian job market annually for the next two decades and urban areas will account for 75 percent of gross domestic product growth in the next 15 years. In addition, two-thirds of India's buildings that will exist in 2030 have started to be built since 2010 onward. Managing these urban transitions is a significant challenge in itself, one that is further complicated by the need to address their energy implications. In this chapter, I examine a significant driver of India's urban energy future—electricity demand in households—in the context of the National Capital Region (NCR).

Electricity use in Indian homes—for lights, ceiling fans, televisions, and refrigerators, among other appliances—has increased 50 times between 1971 and today, even though India's per capita residential electricity consumption is less than a third of the world average. Residential electricity now outpaces growth in the industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors. And India's residences, which avail of modern energy services such as cooling, clean cooking, lighting, and media access, are predicted to account for 85 percent of the country's floor space by 2050.7 A combination of the residential growth, development needs, rising incomes, and the policy aimed to provide uninterrupted electricity to all homes by 2019 and is projected to increase electricity consumption by five to six times between 2014 and 2030. Already, the residential sector used about 25 percent of the country's total current electricity consumption (with a 9 percent growth in 2015–2016)—and this was at a time when about a quarter of all households did not have an electricity connection and those who had used to face frequent power cuts. The sheer scale of growth and the challenge of meeting the resulting energy needs in a sustainable manner pose unprecedented burdens on India's urban areas.