The Sheila Dikshit Government on Monday gave nod to grant a subsidy of `1 per unit up to monthly consumption of 200 units of electricity with effect from July 1, 2012.
A communiqué from the Chief Minister’s office stated that this decision would benefit about 20 lakh domestic consumers out of a total of 34 lakh consumers.
Following severe attack by the Opposition over hike in power tariff, Dikshit said: “The government is fully concerned about the needs of the middle class and poor families. It is the only state in the country to offer maximum subsidy of `40 on LPG cylinders from 2007.”
Dikshit said the state government had also been providing subsidy on limited consumption of power across all sections of society with an aim to encourage judicious use of power. Following the announcement of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to hike power tariff from July 1, the government has been mulling over relief measures for domestic consumers and it has decided to grant a subsidy of `1 per unit up to consumption of 200 units per month. The government will allocate `222.40 crore towards this purpose.
“200 units are enough to power at least two fans for 20 hours a day, two tube-lights for six hours a day one TV for four hours a day, one refrigerator round-the-clock and one water pump for an hour or so,” Dikshit said.
Dikshit said that Delhi was the only city in the country where uninterrupted power supply was maintained and even the revised tariff was much lower than other metro cities.