Around 39 lakh households across the national capital have received subsidised electricity bills in December, said government data.
The AAP government from October made it mandatory for consumers to apply for subsidised power bills after it phased out its signature “free electricity” scheme launched in 2019 amid the ongoing debate over ‘freebie’ politics.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on September 14 launched a WhatsApp number under its new Voluntary Subsidy Scheme and announced that the people will have to apply and give consent for getting electricity at subsidised rate.
According to the government data, about 40.3 lakh people have applied for the subsidy till December 13, while 55 lakh people availed of the facility in November 2021.
The data also shows that around 15 lakh households in the national capital have opted out of the AAP government’s electricity subsidy scheme after the changes were implemented.
Officials, however, said that, “On an average only 47 lakh people availed of the subsidy in a year. As it was an automatic subsidy earlier, the numbers increased during winters as the electricity usage would drop as people do not use AC and fan etc. So, over all, a good number of consumers have applied and are receiving the subsidy.”
In October, 35 lakh consumers availed of the Voluntary Subsidy Scheme that was announced in May. These include both consumers who received subsidies up to 200 and 400 units.
Consumers in Delhi were given time till October 31 to opt for the subsidy. The government, however, extended the date till November 15 so that people who missed can opt-in for the subsidy.
People get a 100 per cent subsidy for consuming less than 200 units and a 50 per cent subsidy up to Rs 800 for consuming up to 400 units. The Delhi government has now made it mandatory for people to opt-in for the subsidy to continue getting the benefits.
Officials said that consumers who have not applied for the subsidy can still opt in through offline or online and get subsidised bills from their next billing cycle.
Delhi has 57 lakh electricity consumers, of which 47 lakh get the subsidy, 30 lakh get zero bills and around 16-17 lakh of them get half the bill. The government in the last fiscal year allocated Rs 3,090 crore for the power subsidy scheme.