In what appears to be a step taken to tackle the Samajwadi Party’s promise of providing 300 units of free electricity to domestic households and free irrigation, the BJP government on Thursday announced a 50% rebate in electricity rates for farmers and urban users who own private tube wells.
The decision would benefit 13 lakh consumers, the State government said.
The electricity rates would be halved for metered, unmetered and energy-efficient pumps in rural areas and metered tube wells in urban areas, the BJP government said.
With the U.P. Assembly elections due to be announced anytime soon, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decision comes on the heels of his opponent Akhilesh Yadav recently declaring that if the Samajwadi Party is voted to power, it would not only provide 300 units of free electricity to domestic households but also free electricity for irrigation to farmers.
The decision to cut electricity rates for tube well users would bring an estimated additional burden of ₹1,000 crore per year on the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited, a government spokesperson said. The government would issue grants to the UPPCL for this financial burden.
As per the decision, in rural areas the metered connection rate would fall from ₹2 per unit to ₹1 while the fixed charge would drop from ₹70 to ₹35. For unmetered connections, the fixed charge would be reduced to ₹85 from ₹170.
