Gruha Jyothi scheme: More than a crore zero bills issued this year in Karnataka

Bengaluru's power sector saw tariff hikes, Gruha Jyothi scheme, power shortage & electrocution incidents in 2017.

This was the year when the developments in the power sector, other than the annual tariff revision, made it to the news frequently owing to the new government’s flagship Gruha Jyothi scheme and power shortage brought forth due to the draught among other things. 

One of the interesting developments in the sector this time was the tariff revision which was announced in the two-day gap between the election day and election result day. Much to the outrage of the citizens, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) approved an average of 70 paise per unit hike, which was the highest in at least the last six years.  

However, a little down the lane, domestic consumers in Karnataka breathed a sigh of relief as the Gruha Jyothi Scheme, which provided 200 units of free power to those who had previously consumed an average of 200 or fewer units of power every month, for a year was announced. The scheme was formally inaugurated on July 1. In the Budget presented a few days later, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah earmarked a whopping ₹13,910 crore for the Gruha Jyothi scheme. 

Even though the registration process for the scheme initially had a few glitches, so far, close to 1.5 crore domestic consumers have registered for the Gruha Jyothi scheme and more than a crore zero bills have been issued this year. The scheme also attracted the wrath of industries, especially MSMEs as the industrialists argued that the free power to domestic consumers meant that industries would have to bear the brunt. After negotiations with Energy Minister K.J. George, the protests died down. 

On October 10, Mr. George announced that due to the failure of monsoon and a surge in demand, the State was experiencing a power shortfall of 40-50 Million Units every day. The peak demand in the State hit a record of 16,950 Mega Watts on August 25.  

With no rainfall, the hydel generation took a hit while the cloudy conditions hampered the solar power generation too. Acting quickly, the Energy Department took up a series of measures to mitigate the power shortage in the State including the power swapping agreements with the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. After a month, the Energy Department said that the State had overcome the power shortage.  

The department is expecting peak demand in the State to touch 18,000-18,500 MW in the upcoming summer and has also said that it is confident of catering to the demand without any hurdles.