MP, Rajasthan and Karnataka among top states to provide power subsidy
Premium- As per the Ministry data, as many as 27 states/UTs out of 36 are providing subsidised electricity to consumers.
The state of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka are among top states providing highest power subsidy bill, accounting for ₹48,248 crore which is 36.4 percent.
As per the Ministry data, as many as 27 states/UTs out of 36 are providing subsidised electricity to consumers.
Madhya Pradesh has spent ₹47,932 crore between 2018-19 and 2020-21, this will further increase as the state government had announced it will set aside an additional ₹16,424 crore on account of giving power subsidies to farmers. Apart from this, the state has already ₹5,582 crore subsidy scheme for domestic consumers.
“If you see Madhya Pradesh alone, its tariff subsidy amount booked in 2020-21 was ₹19,595 crore. In 2022-23, with their latest announcements, the state’s budget allocation on electricity subsidy is going to climb over ₹22,800 crore," Hindustan Times has reported citing a power ministry official on anonymity. According to the Union power ministry’s PRAAPTI portal, as of 4 August, discoms in Madhya Pradesh had an outstanding due of ₹8,190 crore to generation companies.
Speaking of Rajasthan, in its 2022-23 budget, the state had announced additional free electricity of up to 50 units for domestic users consuming up to 100 units per month. The state has spent ₹40,278 crore in the past three years and ₹6,545 crore in 2020-21 alone. Discoms in Rajasthan have an outstanding due of ₹4,201 crore to various gencos.
Cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas had said that the 50 unit free electricity was for 36 lakh beneficiaries. “What the government is doing is for public welfare works and is acting as a trustee and not a trader," he said.
As per the HindustanTimes report, Delhi has also seen an increase of 85 percent in its subsidy expenditure between 2018-19 and 2020-21, from ₹1,699 crore in 2018-19 to ₹3,149 crore, the second highest among all provinces, an analysis of three-year data show.
Recently, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal too had said that if elected to power in Gujarat, he guaranteed that he will provide electricity supply for free. The AAP leader claimed that about 25 lakh households in Punjab have just recently got electricity bills of zero rupees and many of the people residing in Delhi are also privileged for the same.
Apart from this, Manipur also saw a jump of 124 percent in power subsidies in three years, an increase was from ₹120 crore to ₹269 crore.
The data also showed that Goa and Kerala are the new entrants that started offering power subsidies in 2020-21, while Sikkim and Tripura started in 2019-20. Furthermore, of the 27 provinces offering subsidies, only five have seen marginal decrease in expenditure, while states like Gujarat, Telangana, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir have kept their budget allocation on power subsidies the same during the three-year period.
“Subsidy expenditure increased for all the other remaining states during the same period," data showed.
Earlier on 30 July, PM Modi had urged states to clear pending power sector dues as soon as possible. Addressing the 'Ujjwal Bharat Ujjwal Bhavishya - Power @2047' programme, the Prime Minister said, "Many states have outstanding dues of more than ₹1 lakh crore to power generation companies. These companies are not able to get even the money that has been committed for subsidy on electricity in different states which is over ₹75,000 crore."
The minister said about 1,70,000MW of electricity generation has been added since 2014.
"One Nation One Power Grid has become the strength of the country. So far, about 170 GW capacity has been installed from non-fossil sources," PM Modi said.
PM Modi said that his government has strengthened the power sector by removing many previous shortcomings in the energy sector.
" Eight years ago, there was a problem with the electric grid, there used to be failures. While consumption of power was increasing, production was depleting and distribution of power was in the doldrums."
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