BENGALURU: The state government will implement its Gruha Jyothi scheme on July 1. It is one of the five guarantees promised by the Congress party in its manifesto for the May 10 Assembly elections. Officials from the Energy Department said that under the scheme, domestic consumers, whose power consumption is below 200 units, will be eligible for subsidy. They will get zero bills from August 1. Meter reading and calculation will, however, start from July 1.
“This is a post-paid scheme and the bill for power consumption will be given from August 1. No matter when the meter reader takes the reading and when the consumer gets the bill, the scheme starts from July 1,” said a senior official from the department.
Registration for the scheme began on June 18. According to the energy and e-governance departments, as on June 30, 86,24,688 consumers have registered their names.
Earlier, the state government set July 5 as the last date for registration. However, considering the rush and technical glitches on the Seva Sindhu portal, the government withdrew the deadline.
Although the deadline for registration has been withdrawn, the officials asserted that only those who have registered their names will get zero bills. “If a consumer registers in July, he/she will get the benefit only from August 1 onwards,” the official said.
The scheme is for all households in Karnataka where monthly electricity usage is less than 200 units. To bring more people under the scheme, the government also announced that an average of 10 months will be taken for the billing cycle in the financial year 2022-23 and add 10% to it, provided the consumption is within 200 units. Those consuming more than 200 units will have to pay the bill.
According to the government, there are 2.16 crore domestic consumers. Of them, 2.14 crore consumers’ monthly power consumption is below 200 units. “The beneficiaries will get zero bills from August 1 (for electricity used in July) if usage is within their entitlement,” the officials said.