Punjab: PSPCL issues notification for 300 units of free electricity

Punjabs 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 taxesConsumers belonging to scheduled castes backward castes belowpovertyline households and freedom fighters along with their successors up to grandchildren will have to submit selfdeclaration forms for availing free electricity of 300 units per month according to the notification issued by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited PSPCLThe AAPled government had earlier announced to provide 300 units of free electricity to households from July 1According to the scheme a consumer will have to pay for the entire power usage if the consumption exceeds 600 units in two monthsBut consumers belonging to the SC BCs belowpovertyline households and freedom fighter categories will be charged for power consumption over and above 600 units in two monthsAccording to the selfdeclaration 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 pastThe 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 exmayor of municipal corporation according to the formSuch 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 categoryBesides their monthly family pension should not be above Rs 10000 the consumer or his family member should not be a doctor engineer advocate chartered accountant or architect as per the selfdeclaration formThe consumer or any family member of such categories should also not have paid income tax in the last financial year as per the formThe consumer will have to inform the department when he or his family member comes under the ambit of Income TaxThe selfdeclaration 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 officialThere 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 notificationAccording 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 usageBut the SC BCs belowpovertyline households and freedom fighters categories will be charged just for over and above 600 unitsPunjab has a twomonth billing cycle for power supplyPunjab Power minister Harbhajan Singh said the state government fulfilled a major prepoll guarantee about the free 300 units of electricity per monthIn case bimonthly consumption exceeds 600 units or monthly consumption exceeds 300 units the SC BC NonSCBC BPL and freedom fighters who fulfil the conditions as per the selfdeclaration shall pay energy charges only for the units consumed in excess of 600 units bimonthly300 units monthly along with fixed charges meter rentals and government leviestaxes he said in a statement hereAccording 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 continueIn case of rooftop solar domestic consumers the monthly import consumption up to 300 units would entail zero monthly billsGiving 300 units of free electricity was one of the major poll promises of the Aam Aadmi Party during the Punjab assembly elections The partys national convener Arvind Kejriwal had promised free electricity of up to 300 units for the state in June last yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever