Power subsidy bill, arrears cross 10% of Punjab’s total budget
Political compulsions and poll promises are set to take a huge toll on the state’s finances in the election year as the power subsidy bill has steadily risen to ₹17,796 crore, which is more than 10% of Punjab’s total budget.
The budget approved for the current fiscal is ₹1,68,015 crore.
The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has worked out a subsidy of ₹10,668 crore payable to different consumer categories. It comprises ₹6,735 crore for agriculture pump set consumers, ₹1,627 crore for scheduled caste, backward class and below poverty line domestic consumers and ₹2,266 crore for industrial consumers.
The large supply consumers are to get ₹1,928 crore, medium power ones will get ₹197 crore and ₹142 crore in subsidies has been allocated to small power consumers.
