Patiala, July 12
The Punjab Government has tweaked power subsidy rules allowing benefit to a larger section of the public and now all domestic consumers in the state will be eligible to get zero bills, if their consumption is up to 600 units in every two-month billing cycle.
Relief for Domestic Consumers
The move will give relief to domestic consumers across the state irrespective of their sanctioned power load
The move, as per the orders, will give relief to domestic consumers across the state irrespective of their sanctioned power load. Earlier, only those who had load up to 1 kW were eligible and those consuming less than 300 units with more than
1 kW load were left out.
The government has estimated that the power subsidy payable to the PSPCL would be Rs 15,846 crore during the current financial year. “Earlier, free power to farmers used to constitute 70 per cent of total subsidies. Now as per budget provisions, subsidy to the agriculture sector and domestic consumers stands at par with 42.5 per cent each, and the industrial sector at 15 per cent of the total annual subsidy amount. Punjab is the only state in the country where the subsidy has been given to the industry,” said All-India Power Engineers Federation spokesperson Vinod Gupta. During the current financial year, the Punjab Government would have to pay a record Rs 24,866 crore towards power subsidy to different categories of consumers.
“If the state government can regularly clear our subsidy bills, there is no financial problem. However, in case of delayed clearance of subsidy amount we have no option but to face losses,” said a senior PSPCL official. “All we need is steps to ensure that the consumers do save power,” he added.
Govt tweaks power subsidy rules, more to benefit
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