ABSTRACT
Indian policy discourse on the most suitable mode of agricultural electricity tariff has come full circle. Since the marginal cost of extracting groundwater was close to zero, it provided incentive for over-pumping. In many areas, this spawned active groundwater markets. West Bengal also differs from some other major Indian states in terms of both groundwater and electricity use. To understand the current dynamics of metering, the officials of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited (WBSEDCL) were interviewed. To understand the farmers perceptions about metering, a primary questionnaire-based survey was administered to 155 respondents in five districts of West Bengal. The WBSEDCL introduced high-tech meters based on GSM cellular modules in the rural areas. Water buyers constitute 50 percent of the rural farming households and often belong to poor and marginal sections of the society.
