In a major development, Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday hiked electricity charges in the State. The decision to increase electricity charges in Punjab comes just two days after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Jalandhar byelection 2023 and its candidate Sushil Rinku became MP-elect. As per reports, the Punjab electricity regulatory commission has increased the power bill charges for this year. As per the official announcement, domestic consumers who get 300 units of free electricity every month will now have to pay Rs 15 per kilowatt as additional fixed charges. It means the per unit tariff has been hiked by 25 paise to 70 paise. Apart from domestic consumers, non-residential or commercial consumers will now have to pay Rs 25- Rs 30 as fixed charges. It means the power tarrif for commercial consumers have been hiked by 28-41 paise per unit. Interestingly, after the electricity tarrif hike announcement, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann took to his Twitter handle and clarified that it will not affect the common people.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on his Twitter handle wrote that the cost of the electricity bill hike will be bear by the State government and not the common people.
Read what Punjab CM said on electricity price hike-
ਬਿਜਲੀ ਦੀਆਂ ਦਰਾਂ ਚ ਵਾਧੇ ਦਾ ਖ਼ਰਚਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੇਵੇਗੀ ਇਸ ਦਾ ਆਮ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਤੇ ਕੋਈ ਬੋਝ ਨਹੀਂ ਪਵੇਗਾ…600 ਯੂਨਿਟ ਵਾਲੀ ਯੋਜਨਾ ਦੇ ਇੱਕ ਵੀ ਮੀਟਰ ਤੇ ਅਸਰ ਨਹੀ ਪਵੇਗਾ..
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) May 15, 2023
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Coming back to Punjab's electricity charges hike, Industries in the state will have to pay Rs 25- Rs 30 as additional fixed charges. Notably, the per unit tariff of electricity for different categories of industrial consumers is now increased by 30- 40 paise per unit. Not only this, the Punjab power price hike will be applicable for agriculture consumers. The per unit cost has been increased by 90 paise for agriculture consumers. It is pertinent to mention here that the power for agriculture consumers is free, the hike in tariff will increase the subsidy burden of the state government for both agriculture and domestic consumers.
Punjab's new electricity charges will come into effect from Tuesday. Interestingly, the tariff order comes into effect from April 1, however, the new tariff order this year was delayed because of the model code of conduct being in place for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha Election 2023 in which AAP's candidate Sushil Rinku broke the Congress' stronghold.