Bad news for consumers paying electricity bill; will bear the brunt of electricity rate hike in Punjab
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Punjab government led by Bhagwant Mann has approved the electricity charges rate hike of 12-13 paise per unit. The notification will be issued by the Punjab state power corporation limited in coming times.
Now, the consumers who are paying the electricity bill will bear the brunt of electricity rate hike decision of the state government.
On the condition of anonymity, a senior functionary of the Punjab state power corporation limted said ,’ around 74 lacs domestic consumers are registered in the state. Out of this around 50 lacs consumers got zero bill in September, after the state government announcement of giving 600 units free power to every household consumer. In the next billing cycle around 10-12 lacs more consumers will got free 600 power benefit taking the tally to 62 lacs consumer who will get Zero bill in November and 68 lakh household will get zero power bill in January, which will be roughly 90% of the total households of the state.
But, the sad part is that the consumers who are paying the bill will have to pay the revised bill with 12-13 paisa per unit increase. The industrial, commercial clients will also have to pay the electricity bill with revised, increased rates” added another officer of the Punjab state power corporation limited.
Gagandeep Kaur, a housewife said “this means we, who are paying the bill are fools. The government is exploiting us as we are the tax payer, paying the bill and are not indulging in any unlawful, illegal practices. The government is not giving any relief to bill paying consumers, is rather burdening us with rate hike.”
Another senior functionary of the Punjab state power corporation limited on the condition of anonymity said,” the rate increase will put extra financial burden on the state government as they have to pay the increased amount from their own exchequer to the powercom in the form of increased power subsidy. “
Bad news for consumers paying electricity bill; will bear the brunt of electricity rate hike in Punjab. But, the consumer with low consumption is in a win-win situation as he is not liable to pay any increase rate of electricity tariff but with a condition that the consumer has to maintain his/ her power consumption below 600 units per billing cycle. Whenever he crosses the 600 free unit mark, they will have to pay the bill on higher rates” added senior functionary of the powercom.
October 17,2022
