BENGALURU: The Congress’ announcement that 200 units of free power would be given to every household worked like magic, and got the party a major chunk of votes. However, officials and experts have expressed concern over the financial implications of this scheme.
They say the government is already giving subsidies for IP sets, and has various schemes like Kuteera Jyoti and Bhagya Jyoti. In the last budget, Amrit Jyoti scheme was announced but was not implemented. “The model is a little different from what was adopted by the AAP. Here, the government has announced free 200 units of free power to all households, irrespective of income. This will be a huge burden on the government,” said an official.
Experts said that implementation of the new scheme for five years will be a challenge. Now that the government has committed to it and even came to power on the scheme, it cannot roll back or place conditions. “As per the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), the average cost of power supply is Rs 9.12. The government will have to give 3848 MU of power free to domestic consumers every month, which will cost them Rs 3,509 crore per month, and Rs 42,108 crore annually.
The government is already paying a subsidy amount of Rs 14,508 crore per annum, which excludes IP sets. The government cannot stop these subsidies and schemes to accommodate domestic consumers. Management of this new scheme would be a challenging task,” said MG Prabhakar, chairman, FKCCI, Energy Committee.