The Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPSERC) is reportedly planning to increase power tariff for all categories of consumers in the state. According to reports, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided to increase the power tariff from July.
Earlier the UP CM had ordered 18-hour power supply in villages, 20-hour at tehsil level and in Bundelkhand region besides deciding to ink a pact with the Centre to ensure electricity in all villages by 2019.
A meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Yogi Adityanath, the second since he assumed office, also decided that district headquarters will get 24-hour power supply, power minister Shrikant Sharma told reporters here after the three-hour-long meeting.
The chief minister directed the power department to ensure that defective or burnt transformers are replaced expeditiously in rural areas so that agricultural operations do not suffer, he said.
Recently, Yogi Adityanath had signed the ‘Power For All’ scheme with the Union Power Ministry on April 14. UP was the only state that hadn’t enter into an agreement under the Centre’s Power For All scheme, which aims to provide round-the-clock electricity to all households. Notably, there are 1.86 crore families in the state, which still don’t have electricity at their homes.
In the coming 100 days, the UP government plans to give five lakh new electricity connections. The Below Poverty Line (BPL) households will be given free electricity connections.
The government is also going make laws against theft of power more stringent. The state requires about 16,000 MW to supply power and is also purchasing electricity to fulfill the demand.
(With PTI inputs)
