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The Delhi government announced on Thursday that from October 1, only people in Delhi will get free electricity, who want to take it. Kejriwal said "Delhi cabinet made another very important decision today (Thursday). That is, many people in Delhi get free electricity. For this, the Delhi government gives a subsidy, Indian Express reported.
“Sometimes I receive suggestions from many people, letters arrive. When I meet many people, I get suggestions that sir, it is good that you give us free electricity, but some of us are capable and do not want to take your subsidy. Let's say you can put this money somewhere in schools and hospitals.
Kejriwal further said, "This is why we have decided that we will give people options, we will ask people if they want an electricity subsidy. If someone says we want it, we will give it to them and if we don't want it, then we won't give it.".
At present, 100 per cent subsidy is given on 200 units every month in Delhi and it has around 3039766 consumers. At the same time, the subsidy of Rs 800 is available in 201-400 consumer units and has around 1659976 consumers. No subsidy is available after the consumption of 400 units.
A senior official from the Department of Electricity said that the government's spending on electricity subsidies increased by 125.26 per cent from the first year 2015-16 to 2022-23. In the first year, the government provided a total of Rs 1,442.76 crore for the subsidy, which increased to Rs 2,939.99 crore in 2020-21. For 2022-23, the state government has earmarked Rs 3,250 crore for subsidies.
“There has been an increase of 82.79 per cent in electricity consumers in Delhi in the decade 2011-2021. This means that the number of consumers is increasing every year and this will require more money.
There are a total of 5818231 electricity consumers in Delhi. In Delhi, the subsidy has been awarded in five categories, including household consumers (4 crore 69 lakh), victims of anti-Sikh riots (758), agricultural consumers (10,676) and lawyers (4,899). In this way, a total of 4,716,075 consumers receive electricity at no cost.
The electricity and water subsidy have been two great electoral promises of the Aam Aadmi Party government. This is considered a big reason behind the victory of the party in Delhi. Upon coming to power, the Kejriwal government had said that by stopping the corruption, they are giving this subsidy with the remaining money, that is, giving the money back to the people. At the same time, the Punjab government has also announced that it will provide free electricity on lines in Delhi.
Karthik Ganesan, a member and director of the Energy, Environment and Water Council, tells the newspaper: "This is a good step for the proper distribution of subsidies. Delhi has to be ready for the final GST offset. Rather, the government may have to go further: instead of letting them choose the subsidy, consumers may be asked to show why they want the subsidy.
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