As a result, average price of electricity sold covers only a portion of the average production costs. The total under-recovery of costs, which was estimated to be INR 431 billion (USD 10 billion) in 2008 (MoF, 2008b), discourages private investment in the Indian power sector (Mathy and Guivarch, 2009). Since August 2006, four of the regional grids have been integrated: the Northern, Eastern, Western and North Eastern grids (the NEWNE grid). Only the southern grid still operates independently, covering the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep.