Clarity on electricity subsidy in Uttarakhand only after notification

PrashantNews

The Uttarakhand government would soon issue a notification on its announcement to provide 50 percent subsidy to a section of domestic electricity consumers, who are using 1 Kw of power load in the state.

On his birthday on Sept 16, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced that his government would provide 50 percent subsidy to consumers using up to 100 units of electricity per month. In addition to this, the government would also provide 50 percent subsidy to the consumers using upto200 units in the high Himalayan areas. In both the cases, the subsidy would be available to consumers who are using 1 kw of power load only.

In an official statement, the government said the subsidy announcement would benefit 11.5 lakh consumers of the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) which is being controlled by it. There are a total of nearly 29 lakh electricity consumers in the state.

There is no clarity on the parameters of fixing the height of the high Himalayan areas. “There are some hill areas in many districts which are not very high. We don’t know what are the criteria for such subsidy for the hill areas? We are waiting for the government order (GO) in this regard,” said a top official of the UPCL. It was also not clear what would be the impact of such subsidies on the state exchequer.

According to the government sources, the benefit of such subsidy would be provided to consumers using 1 KW of power load meters. But again, experts said it was difficult to say how many consumers would finally get the benefit. “!1.5 lakh figure is a rough estimate,” the UPCL official said.