Kejriwal’s power sop: Zero bill for domestic consumers soon
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has formulated a new solar policy that will ensure zero electricity bill to domestic consumers and also give them an opportunity to earn by installing solar panels on their rooftops.
While the Delhi Solar Policy 2016 took the capital’s solar capacity to 1,500 MW, the 2024 policy targets to provide 4,500 MW installed capacity by 2027.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the 2016 policy, announced during the first term of the AAP government, laid the foundation for solar adoption in Delhi. “Under the policy, the rooftop solar panels installed by people of Delhi generated around 250 MW. Besides this, various discoms in Delhi purchased 1,250 MW from outside. So, in total, 1,500 MW solar power was made available,” he said.
He said the 2024 policy aims to reduce Delhi’s air pollution and help fight inflation by bringing the electricity bills of non-subsidised residential consumers to zero, and halving the bills of commercial or industrial consumers.
Currently, the government fully subsidises electricity up to 200 units for residential consumers. For 201-400 units, 50% subsidy is given. “But power bills of all residential consumers who install solar panels on their rooftops will be zero, no matter how much electricity they consume,” the CM said.
Apart from this, each domestic consumer will also be able to generate an additional income of `700-900 per month, as the government proposes to provide Generation-Based Incentives (GBI).
“The target is to increase the total installed solar capacity of Delhi to 4,500 MW by March 2027, that is, by three times the current capacity. This includes 750 MW of rooftop solar plants installations and 3,750 MW purchased by discoms,” he said.
Around Rs 570 crore will be spent to implement the policy.
Target
While the earlier solar policy took Delhi’s capacity to 1,500 MW, the new one targets to take it to 4,500 MW.