Chandigarh: Domestic consumers in Punjab will get 300 units of free electricity each month from July 1, CM Bhagwant Mann said as he announced the “good news” he had been hinting at since he took office a month ago. He said Punjab will be the second state after Delhi to provide free power to the people.
Free electricity was one of the key pre-poll promises of AAP, with party chief Arvind Kejriwal assuring 300 units during his campaign. “We will fulfil all our promises in the next five years,” Mann said.
However, if a household exceeds more than 600 units in two months, it will have to pay the full bill. Punjab has a two-month billing cycle. The move will put an estimated additional burden of £500 million on the state exchequer, according to AAP MLA Aman Arora. “But the AAP governance model will ensure that the burden is not transferred to the people,” he said. The CM said Punjab could not provide free or cheaper electricity because of flawed agreements by previous governments.
He said his government is committed to providing the cheapest electricity to commercial and industrial sectors. Mann clarified that members of Scheduled Castes, backward classes below the poverty line, and freedom fighters currently getting 200 free units each month, will get 300 units and charged just for the usage over and above the free 600 units in two months.
Mann said rates of industrial and commercial units will not be hiked and free electricity for the agriculture sector will continue.
