The Punjab government is thinking of providing relief to power consumers in the state by either cutting down the price of every unit or providing 300 units free of cost to every household, just as what Arvind Kejriwal offered to Delhites.
As per the report by The Indian Express, sources confirmed that the government was weighing various options and an announcement will soon be made. “The decision has been left to the council of ministers, who will be meeting at 2 pm on Monday and take a final call,” the source said.
Punjab comes under the list of one of those few states where each unit of electricity is considered costly. A domestic consumer has to pay Rs 8, including taxes, for every unit of power consumed in the state.
Power rates have been sneered at by both local citizens and opposition parties, with excessive electricity prices set to become a major electoral issue in the state’s approaching elections.
The decision to provide relief to electricity bills comes at a time when the country is looming with a coal crunch. Three days before, CM Channi met Rahul Gandhi. During the meeting, Rahul had asked the CM to speed up decision-making as it’s been a month that the government has been in power.
Also, inexpensive power was one of the 18-point agendas of the party high command that had been given to the former CM Amarinder Singh when he came to power in 2017. The Congress high command asked the now CM, cm Channi to work upon those agendas after he took over as the CM of the state.
On Saturday, Channi had ordered the termination of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with GVK Thermal Plant, Goindwal Sahib, and served a termination notice to the thermal plant.
Relief to power consumers had also been discussed in the first Cabinet meeting chaired by Channi after taking over as the CM. Channi then asked his Cabinet colleagues to study the issue and come up with suggestions on whether the government should slash the price per unit or give 300 units free of cost electricity.
Besides Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have also promised cheaper electricity to the households once they get into power in 2022.