Over 2.5 million out of 5.8 million in Delhi apply for power subsidy

Over 2.5 million power consumers in Delhi have applied for tariff subsidies so far, said officials aware of the matter, two weeks after the state government made it mandatory for residents to opt-in to receive these benefits, with around 3.3 million people in the city still to sign-up for the programme.

The national capital has around 5.8 million domestic power consumers, according to data from the Delhi power department.

State government officials said they expect the number of consumers who opt in to pick up in the coming weeks as awareness of the new mandate spreads, adding that people will get subsidies in the next month’s bill.

“Many people may not have been able to apply and some may have been unaware of the programme. We are going to carry out drives in the coming days to make sure every domestic power consumer knows about the new policy and decides if they wish to continue or discontinue their power subsidy,” said the state government official.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal this May announced that subsidies on power tariffs will, from the October billing period, apply only to eligible consumers who opt for it, mandating a key change in a flagship Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government programme.

Last month, Kejriwal announced consumers could opt-in for power subsidies by giving a missed call or sending a WhatsApp message to 7011311111. Consumers can also submit applications at various billing centres. The state started accepting these applications from September 14.

Since 2015, Delhi’s domestic power consumers have received subsidies in two brackets. First, those who use up to 200 units of power a month are given a 100% waiver. Second, consumers who use 201-400 units get a subsidy of up to ₹800.

On an average, just over three million of Delhi’s 5.8 million power consumers received zero bills every month before the opt-in plan came into effect, and more than 1.6 million received the ₹800 subsidy.

To be sure, these numbers varied regularly, and were largely dependent on the season. For instance, more people came under the power subsidy every winter, when power consumption dips sharply.

According to Discom officials said till Saturday, the BSES discoms — BRPL and BYPL — received 1,203,599 and 622,952 applications respectively, while Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) received 750,695.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which supplies power to New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment areas, has received 7,945 power subsidy applications.

“We have not conducted an area-wise analysis yet to find out the neighbourhood-based spread of the applications,” said the official.

The Delhi government provides power subsidies to five categories of consumers — domestic consumers (4.69 million), anti-Sikh riot victims (758 consumers), agricultural consumers (10,676) and lawyers (4,899) whose chambers are within the court complex.

People who could not opt for subsidies before October 1 can apply for it in November. However, in such an event, power subsidies will not apply in the October bill, said officials.

“Those who register in November will have to pay the October bill and will be able to avail the subsidy from November. Whenever a consumer applies, they will get subsidies from the next month,” added the official.

The government’s expenditure on the power subsidy scheme has increased by 125.26% from its first year in 2015-16 till 2022-23.

In its first complete year in power (2015-16), the AAP government handed out power subsidies of ₹1,442.76 crore, which increased to ₹2,939.99 crore in 2020-21. For 2022-23, the government has allocated about ₹3,250 crore for power subsidie.