The central government is working on a plan to offer affordable electricity to all households in the country in the coming five years.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government will work to provide uninterrupted and affordable access to electricity supply to all households in the country. He was speaking at the inauguration of the International Seminar on Energy Access organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Confederation of India Industry (CII).

"The government aims to provide 24x7 electricity to all households in the country and affordable access to electricity in the next 5 years," he said.

He also said that the government is also working on a plan to offer cooking gas to all rural households. According to estimates, only 12 pecent of rural households use LPG cooking gas for cooking purposes. Dr. Singh estimated that providing 240 million households access to six LPG cylinders per year will only require 25 million tonnes of LPG.

He said that the additional requirement is manageable however the expansion into rural areas might take more time.