Gruha Jyoti scheme: Power utilities issue 5.11 crore zero bills in one year

Hyderabad:Power utilities have issued 5,11,61,104 zero bills in the last one year after the Congress government launched the Gruha Jyoti scheme, waiving power bills for households consuming less than 200 units a month. The scheme is believed to have encouraged low power consumption families to further conserve power so as to qualify for the scheme.

The Congress government launched the scheme on March 1, fulfilling one of its election promises. About 50.36 lakh households are benefitting from the scheme. Of this, 25,86,027 consumers are from southern discom and 24,50,653 from the northern discom.

The government has reimbursed `1,775 crore so far to power utilities in lieu of the zero bills, `850.58 crore to southern discom and `924.58 crore to the northern discom.

Nizamabad district benefited the most with 2.81 lakh beneficiaries, followed by Khammam (2.64 lakh), Nalgonda (2.42 lakh), Rangareddy (2.20 lakh) and Jagtial (2.06 lakh beneficiaries).

After the launch of the scheme, the number of people coming under the lower power consumption slab has considerably increased. Encouraging sustainable use of electricity, the scheme has helped people in reducing wastage and promoting responsible consumption of power among beneficiaries.