Over five lakh Delhi residents who have been running small businesses from their houses will soon be able to get domestic power connections if their consumption is limited to 5 kilowatt (kW), State Power Minister Satyendar Jain announced on Friday.
Mr. Jain said several people in the Capital were earning their livelihood by running small businesses from their home, but were often pressured by the power discoms to take commercial connections.
“If your power connection is below 5 kW, then you will be able to get domestic connections. Many people already do that (use domestic connection) fearing the law, but this will now be legal,” Mr. Jain said.
He said the decision, announced by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) in its tariff schedule for 2017-18, has been conveyed to the power discoms and will soon be implemented.
Subsidy benefits
The Power Minister also announced the installation of prepaid electricity meters for those living in rented accommodations so that they are able to avail the power subsidy which currently goes to the landlords.
This will be done in the next three months, he said.
In October, Mr. Jain had held a meeting with the Power Department officials and the representatives of the discoms in order to come up with ways to extend the benefits of the power subsidy to the tenants.
Domestic consumers
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed the Minister to ensure that tenants also benefit from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s subsidy, which is supposed to apply to all domestic consumers who use up to 400 units a month.
The Minister said that the option of prepaid electricity meters and simplification of documentation will not only allow tenants to avail the benefits of power subsidy, but will also benefit landlords and help in the process of easy billing.
“The discoms have been asked to get these prepaid metres in place within the next three months,” Mr. Jain said.
Clean power pact
The Power Minister said that his Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purchase of 1,000 megawatts (MW) of clean power by 2019.
“This is a step towards the AAP government’s solar policy. Discussions with the three discoms were on for nearly six months and now they have agreed. In-principle agreement has been made,” he said.
The Central government agency, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Limited, will be the nodal agency for undertaking tendering process for the project.
The Minister said that the clean electricity cost is expected to be below ₹3 per unit. “Our expectation is that the cost will be below ₹3 per unit. The average cost of purchase of electricity in Delhi at present about ₹5.50 per unit,” Mr. Jain said.
The AAP government is also planning to provide subsidy to farmers for purchasing solar pumps for irrigation purposes.