Punjab State Power Corporation Limited issues notification for 300 units of free electricity

Representative Pic

Punjab's power utility PSPCL on Saturday issued a notification on 300 units of free electricity per month, exempting domestic category consumers, who consume up to 600 units in two months, from payment of any charge, meter rent or taxes.

Consumers belonging to scheduled castes, backward castes, below-poverty-line households and freedom fighters along with their successors (up to grandchildren) will have to submit self-declaration forms for availing free electricity of 300 units per month, according to the notification issued by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

The AAP-led government had earlier announced to provide 300 units of free electricity to households from July 1.

According to the scheme, a consumer will have to pay for the entire power usage if the consumption exceeds 600 units in two months.

But consumers belonging to the SC, BCs, below-poverty-line households and freedom fighter categories will be charged for power consumption over and above 600 units in two months.

According to the self-declaration form meant for SC, BC, BPL households and freedom fighters, a consumer should declare that he or his family member was not currently occupying any constitutional post or had occupied such post in the past.

The consumer or his family member should not be a minister or former minister, or should not be a member or former member of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabha or mayor or ex-mayor of municipal corporation, according to the form.

Such consumers or their family members should also not be serving in state or central government departments as regular employees, as per the form. However, it is not applicable to employees of D group category.

Besides their monthly family pension should not be above Rs 10,000, the consumer or his family member should not be a doctor, engineer, advocate, chartered accountant or architect, as per the self-declaration form.

The consumer or any family member of such categories should also not have paid income tax in the last financial year, as per the form.

The consumer will have to inform the department when he or his family member comes under the ambit of Income Tax.

The self-declaration form was required to be submitted earlier as well by the SC, BC, BPL and freedom fighters when they were availing 200 units per month during the previous regimes, according to a PSPCL official.

There will be zero bill for consumers (general category) using electricity for residential purposes if their consumption is up to 600 units in two months, said the notification.

According to the scheme, if electricity consumption of a consumer exceeds 600 units in two months, then a consumer will have to pay for the entire power usage.

But the SC, BCs, below-poverty-line households and freedom fighters categories will be charged just for over and above 600 units.
Punjab has a two-month billing cycle for power supply.

Punjab Power minister Harbhajan Singh said the state government fulfilled a major pre-poll guarantee about the free 300 units of electricity per month.

In case bimonthly consumption exceeds 600 units or monthly consumption exceeds 300 units, the SC, BC, Non-SC/BC BPL and freedom fighters who fulfil the conditions as per the self-declaration shall pay energy charges only for the units consumed in excess of 600 units bimonthly/300 units monthly, along with fixed charges, meter rentals and government levies/taxes, he said in a statement here.
According to the notification issued by the PSPCL on Saturday, the subsidy of Rs 3 per unit for domestic consumers having load up to 7 kW shall continue.

In case of rooftop solar domestic consumers, the monthly import consumption up to 300 units would entail zero monthly bills.

Giving 300 units of free electricity was one of the major poll promises of the Aam Aadmi Party during the Punjab assembly elections. The party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal had promised free electricity of up to 300 units for the state in June last year.

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