Punjab cabinet approves policy of 600 units of free power

According to the policy, all domestic consumers in the state will be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is up to 600 units in every billing cycle from July 1

The Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab cabinet on Wednesday gave final approval for the policy governing the decision to provide 600 units of free power to every household per billing cycle in the state with effect from July 1, 2022.

All domestic consumers in Punjab will be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is up to 600 units in every billing cycle. (Representative photo)

A spokesman of the chief minister’s office said all domestic consumers in the state will be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is up to 600 units in every billing cycle.

This will give a reprieve to domestic consumers who have had to shell out huge amounts every month as power tariff, he said.

According to the decision, Scheduled Caste (SC), non-SC BPL and backward class (BC) domestic consumers who are eligible for 400 free units (per billing cycle) of power will also get a subsidy of 600 units now.

Likewise, freedom fighters of Punjab and their successors (up to grandchildren) domestic consumers, who are eligible for free 400 units of power, will also get subsidy of 600 units per billing cycle.

In case, the consumption of SC, non-SC BPL, BC and freedom fighter categories exceeds units per billing cycle then they will pay only for units consumed in addition to 600 units along with full fixed charges, meter rentals and government levies as applicable.

Similarly, the cabinet also gave the green signal for waiving pending arrears of all domestic consumers as on December 31, 2021, and unpaid up to June 30, 2022. This move will give relief to around 28.1 lakh domestic consumers with a total benefit of ₹1298 crore.