ANNOUNCEMENTS
India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) provides a platform for Union and State governments to tackle climate change challenges. To successfully achieve the national targets and commitments, SAPCC or State Action Plans on Climate Change have been developed. The NAPCC accepted that Climate Change and Energy Security were "two sides of the same coin", and that India needed to undertake a strategic change in this direction. A shift like this would improve India's energy security while also helping to combat climate change. Electricity is the state's second-largest source of energy consumption. Domestic electricity usage accounts for a quarter of the total electricity usage in India and has the potential to be a major component of the solution. The state of Uttar Pradesh has the highest primary energy usage among Indian states as of FY 2016-17, and has implemented schemes as part of its SAPCC, towards the urban residential section. This study aimed to examine the Urban Residential Power Sector Policy component of UP SAPCC 2.0, and to understand the consumer awareness and adoption practices promoted by these power sector schemes in the urban residential section of in the state. The study sample was limited to Gautam Buddh Nagar, and it was found that while there was a lack of awareness on government schemes in the state, there was a growing level of awareness around energy efficiency and more and more people are willing to adopt practices that help save the limited resources on the planet. The power policies directed towards urban residential section were also few in number. Eco Niwas Samhita, the Standards & Labelling initiative for energy efficient appliances, and UJALA scheme are some of the schemes implemented in the state; whether they are reaching the urban residential consumers may be explored by more studies in the future.
Keywords: SAPCC, Uttar Pradesh, energy efficiency, power sector, consumer awareness, power policy.
