The Yogi Adityanath-led state government on Thursday announced a 50 per cent reduction in the power tariffs for tubewells owned by farmers. (File) Following in the footsteps of Opposition parties’ poll promise of free electricity, the Yogi Adityanath-led state government on Thursday announced a 50 per cent reduction in the power tariffs for tubewells owned by farmers. As per the government estimate, the decision, to be effective from this month, will benefit nearly 13 lakh consumers.
The decision, ahead of the UP assembly elections, is estimated to set the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) back Rs 1,000 crore a year. According to a press release, the state government will offset UPPCL’s loss with a grant.
The halved tariff will be applicable for metered, unmetered, energy efficient tubewells in rural areas, and metered ones in urban areas. Adityanath’s office tweeted that his government had taken the decision as it was committed to farmers’ “convenience and prosperity”.
The new rates mean that a farmer in rural areas would have to pay Re 1 a unit against the earlier Rs 2 a unit. The fixed charge for such connections has been halved to Rs 35 per horse power.
For unmetered connections in rural areas, the fixed charge has been reduced to Rs 85 per HP. For energy efficient pumps, the tariff has been brought down to 83 paise per unit and the fixed charge to Rs 35 per HP.
A few days ago, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav promised to provide 300 units of free electricity to domestic consumers and to farmers for irrigation if his party was elected to power in the upcoming UP assembly elections.
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