Guwahati,  Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R.K. Singh on Friday said that availability of power in the country, including in the northeast region, has gone up to an average of 21 hours per day in rural areas and 23 hours in urban areas.

He said that in the past three-four years, the power system in the northeast region has developed tremendously and almost all states in the region have managed to revamp their electricity management.

"Today the power system in the northeast is very different than what it was four years back," he said while reviewing the power management at a meeting in Guwahati with the Power Ministers and officials of northeastern states.

Singh said that power is the key to development and a country can't develop until and unless it has a seamless power supply. Power is the most crucial element when it comes to establishment of industries which are the core factor in a nation's progress, he stated.

The power sector has witnessed tremendous growth over the past few years in the areas of generation, transmission, and distributionand the objective is to give 24x7 power supply to every household in the rural and urban areas of the country and to make India a world leader in power production, he said.

Referring to the Revamped Distribution Scheme, Singh said that this would help to reduce the electricity losses and empower the consumers by way of prepaid Smart metering.

He underlined that the increasing demand for electricity has necessitated the strengthening and modernisation of the distribution infrastructure.

Noting that the states need to focus on improving billing efficiency, and ensuring timely payment for electricity consumption by government departments, the minister said that with planning and sincerity in implementation, an operationally efficient and financially sustainable electricity distribution sector can be developed using this scheme, to meet the aspirations of citizens of the country.

The Centre had earlier approved the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, a reforms-based and results-linked scheme with an outlay of Rs 3,03,758 crore over a period of five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the objective to improve the quality, reliability and affordability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient distribution sector.