1.05 Crore Houses Under 200 Units Free Power Scheme

Hyderabad, Jan 18 (Maxim News): The state government has intensified its efforts to implement the guarantee of free supply of 200 units of power to every household every month. It has recently asked the electricity distribution companies (DISCOMS) to calculate how much financial burden will be incurred due to the implementation of this guarantee.

As of 1st of this month, it has been found that the total household electricity connections across the state are more than 1,38,48,000. Of these, upto 200 units per month consumers are 1,05 crore.  From these connections, about Rs. 350 crores revenue is coming to the DISCOMs on monthly electricity bills. If these 1.05 crore houses are given free electricity, the state government will have to pay this amount to the DISCOMS.

At present, the average cost of supplying one unit of electricity in the state (Average Supply cost-ACS) is Rs. 7.07. 200 units consumers are currently charged less than ACS. Based on the current consumptions, free power supply is possible only if the state government pays about Rs. 4,200 crore per year to the DISCOMS. If you have to pay according to ACS, you have to give more funds.  In the new budget, there will be clarity on the issue of allocation of funds for this scheme.

Registration and Implementation Mechanisms:

The government is planning to start a special portal for registering the details of consumers of 1.05 crore households who will get free electricity. All the details of electricity connections of the consumers who want to join under this scheme should be entered in it.

In Karnataka, the users have also been given the opportunity to register directly. The government there has been implementing a free electricity scheme of 200 units per month for houses since last August.

In the same manner, the Telangana government is collecting the details from the DISCOMS for the implementation here as well. Once the customer’s electricity connection details are entered in the portal, the average number of units used per month in the previous financial year will be known.

According to the same average upto 200 units are given free to consumers in Karnataka. It is reported that the state government will soon take a decision whether to follow the same method in Telangana or to give 200 units to all the 1.05 lakh consumers.

DISCUSSION ON SETTING UP SOLAR POWER UNITS

It is also being discussed that if solar power is provided to all household connections that consume up to 200 units of electricity per month, the state government will not need to give Rs. 4,200 crore annually to the DISCOMS under subsidy. However, the authorities estimate that the cost of setting up solar power units may be around Rs. 10 thousand crore.

It has been found that if a solar power unit with a capacity of two kilowatts is installed, 2880 units will be produced per year. Officials said that at current prices, the installation of two kilowatts of solar power will cost Rs. 1.30 lakh of which the Center will give Rs. 36 thousand as a subsidy.  Officials are considering the possibility of setting up a solar power unit for each connection and the state government will bear the remaining Rs. 94,000 after this subsidy is gone.

If we calculate the charge currently being paid to the DISCOMS for 2,880 units, it will be Rs. 12,235 per year. According to this calculation Rs. 94 thousand spent on setting up each solar power unit was returned to the government in about seven and a half years. But the key question is how the government will bear the cost of setting up these units. (Maxim News)

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