Case studies Household electrification

Helping millions of households sign up for electricity

REC Limited · Public information campaign · Government of India program

For India's national household electrification program, I led a large-scale, multi-channel campaign with state power distribution utilities, turning technical and policy information into human-centred stories in 22 languages.

A family in their home under a newly installed electric light, from the book Lighting Lives

28.6Mhousehold opt-ins the campaign contributed to

22languages

785,000+Facebook audience for the program

51 pagesimpact book, Lighting Lives

Challenge

The Government of India set out to connect every willing household to electricity within a tight timeframe, and REC was the program's nodal agency. Many of these households were in remote areas and had never had a connection. People needed to know the program existed, see that it was meant for them and understand how to sign up, in their own language.

My role

I led communications and coordination for the campaign. Electrification itself was delivered by power distribution utilities and program partners.

Strategy

I built the campaign on human stories backed by program facts. Beneficiary testimonials showed what electricity changed for families, while plain-language information explained the benefits and the steps to join. Working with state power distribution utilities, we carried one consistent message through local languages and channels.

Execution

Led a 22-language integrated campaign across multiple channels, coordinating with state power distribution utilities.
Translated technical and policy information into accessible messaging for citizens with very different levels of familiarity with the program.
Paired beneficiary testimonials with program data to show impact for families and at national scale.
Captured the program's story in Lighting Lives, gathering and analyzing program information, shaping the storytelling, overseeing design and production, and managing approvals for accuracy.

Outcomes

The campaign contributed to 28.6 million household opt-ins.
The program's Facebook audience grew to more than 785,000.
Lighting Lives became a lasting record of the program for stakeholders. Read the book

What I enjoyed

I enjoyed turning technical and policy information into stories people could act on. Hearing what electricity changed for families gave the work a clear sense of purpose.