One year of Gruha Jyothi: Consumers happy with savings, but quality power supply remains a concern

A year since the launch of the Congress government’s Gruha Jyothi guarantee scheme, as many as 1.65 crore domestic consumers have registered for the scheme up until May 2024 with many redirecting the expenditure towards savings.

“Our electricity bill used to be ₹150-₹200 every month. Now for the last one year, thanks to the Gruha Jyothi scheme, that amount has been going into my savings. I am saving every penny I can as I want to buy a plot,” said Fakkiresh Talawar, a 22-year-old who works in an electronics shop in Hubballi to take care of himself and his mother after losing his father in 2013. 

On the other side, Prema Yadav, a resident of HSR Layout in Bengaluru, said, “My power bill typically used to be ₹700-₹800 and after registering for Gruha Jyothi, I have mostly received zero bills and net bills a couple of times in summer. While I have been able to use the saved money to buy vegetables which are getting increasingly costlier, I am tired of the frequent power cuts in my locality. Ours is among the few areas in the city which has perpetual power woes.” 

It has been a year since the Congress government started providing free electricity up to 200 units for domestic consumers in Karnataka under one of their five poll guarantees — the Gruha Jyothi scheme. Although the first zero bills were issued in August, free power supply began on July 1. 

Ever since the registration process for the scheme on e-governance portal Seva Sindhu was kickstarted on June 18, 2023, as many as 1.65 crore domestic consumers (out of over 2 crore) have registered for the scheme up until May 2024. The statistics available with the Energy Department had shown that only 2 lakh domestic consumers would be exempt from the scheme as their average consumption was over 200 units.  

“Gruha Jyothi was a brainchild of the Congress government. We brought in this scheme to support the underprivileged economically. We have successfully implemented the scheme, thanks to the vision of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the work of all the officials of the Energy Department,” Energy Minister K. J. George, told The Hindu.  

While around 69 lakh consumers of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) have registered for the scheme, 16 lakh consumers of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom), 33 lakh consumers of Hubli Electricity Supply Company (Hescom), 21 lakh consumers of Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (Gescom) and 23 lakh consumers of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company (CESC) have registered. 

In the financial year 2023-24, a total of 1.57 crore bills were issued under the Gruha Jyothi scheme across the State, for which the government had released a subsidy of ₹5,617 crore. Out of the total bills, 1.09 crore were zero bills whereas 48.8 lakh were net bills.