Currently, consumers are required to apply for a connection directly with the city gas distribution (CGD) entities serving their respective areas.

Under the proposed centralised interface, the demand for an application for a new connection can be placed by a customer directly on this portal, which would then need to be addressed by the utility serving that area within a given timeframe.

Sources indicated that the centralised portal would help the government monitor and keep a tab on CGD entities’ response and action on customer applications on an almost real-time basis.

The move is part of the government’s effort to facilitate migration of LPG consumers — households as well as commercial users — to PNG wherever feasible.

LPG has been the worst-impacted segment of the energy supply disruption due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. India depended on imports to meet about 60% of its LPG demand, and 90% of the imports came from West Asia via the maritime chokepoint.

While India’s natural gas supplies have also been hit due to the West Asia supply disruption, the situation is significantly better than in the case of LPG. India’s reliance on imports for natural gas is around 50%, and 55-60% of LNG imports come through the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel movements have all but come to a halt over the past three months.

In a bid to ease the pressure off of the strained LPG supplies, the government has announced various steps and decisions to effect a migration of LPG consumers to PNG in areas that have access to the latter.

On March 14, the government issued an order barring household consumers from simultaneously holding both types of cooking gas connections. Another notification issued in March made it mandatory for households with access to PNG connectivity, but still using LPG, to shift to PNG within three months or lose their LPG connections as well.

Commercial LPG consumers were also directed to apply for PNG connections if they are located in areas with access to PNG infrastructure, unless they are using LPG in processes where PNG can’t be a viable alternative.

Such measures, the government expects, will help free up LPG supplies from areas that have PNG connectivity, allowing those volumes to reach consumers in areas that currently don’t have PNG infrastructure.

The Centre has also urged states to help expedite PNG network expansion, and has even offered additional commercial LPG allocation if they take certain specific measures in this regard.

According to the Petroleum Ministry, since March, about 8.6 lakh PNG connections have been gasified and infrastructure has been created for another about 3 lakh connections. Further, about 8.8 lakh customers have been registered for new PNG connections.

As of May 31, almost 78,000 consumers that were holding both LPG and PNG connections have surrendered their LPG connections. In March, the government had estimated that there were 60 lakh households across the country with PNG infrastructure available in their vicinity, but continued to use LPG.