Puducherry Govt Announces Subsidy In Tariff For Domestic Power Consumers; Details

Puducherry: Puducherry Electricity Minister A Namassivayam announced on Monday that the territorial government has decided to provide subsidy in tariff to domestic power consumers in the Union Territory.

He said in a release that the government considered the burden arising out of the new power tariff relating to the domestic power consumers. It has been decided now that the domestic power consumers be provided subsidy in the tariff under the Electricity Act 2003.

He said that now domestic power consumers would be levied Rs 2.25 per unit of power consumed for the first 100 units after providing subsidy of 45 paise per unit and this tariff of 2.25 per unit for the first 100 units was levied during last year and this would be retained now to reduce the burden of tariff on domestic power consumers.

Namassivayam further said a subsidy of 40 paise per unit would be provided to consumers in the slab of 101 to 200 units and consequently domestic power consumers would be levied Rs 3.60 per unit instead of Rs 4 per unit imposed by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC).

He said that the subsidized power supply for domestic consumers would be available retrospectively from June 16 this year. For those consuming less than 100 units of power per month, the government would continue to provide 50 per cent subsidy in the tariff.

Namassivayam said the agricultural sector would get power totally free of cost. The Minister noted that the hike in power tariff became necessary because of the rise in rate of power purchased from the central power generating stations.

The government considered the burden felt by domestic power consumers and has now decided to offer subsidies to reduce the sufferings of power consumers. The government’s announcement of subsidy in power tariff came within hours of the protest staged by the opposition parties seeking rolling back of hike in power tariff.