Who is a renewable energy consumer? Former power secretary Anil Razdan offered a new meaning at a recent conference. The issue came up when a member of an audience asked Ajoy Mehta, managing director of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, about its renewable purchase obligation (RPO). Mehta replied that a poor man with one bulb connection cannot be asked to pay more for renewable energy. But Razdan turned the issue into a joke, saying the man uses solar energy when his child studies in the daylight hours and wind energy when the family is cooled by the breeze instead of an air conditioner.


