The Karnataka government issued guidelines on Monday for obtaining free electricity under the Gruha Jyothi scheme. Registration on the Seva Sindhu portal is now required in order to receive free electricity for up to 200 units.
Guidelines out for Karnataka’s free power
The guidelines state that the Gruha Jyothi scheme is only for residential use and is not applicable to commercial use. Customers will receive extra usage bills during billing, excluding free units under the scheme. If the customer’s units are less than the scheme’s eligible units, he or she will receive a zero bill. To take advantage of the scheme, you must first register at the Seva Sindhu portal. Customers must link their Customer ID/Account ID to Aadhar, and any outstanding electricity balances as of June 30 must be cleared within three months or their electricity will be disconnected.
Here are the top points of the scheme: (Source: Business Today)
- According to the latest guidelines, if a house consumes 100 units on average for 12 months, it is then eligible for 110 units of free electricity. This includes the 10 percent additional offered by the government.
- The government had said that power usage of up to 10 percent more than the average monthly usage calculated will be free for the household. Therefore, till 110 units the amount will be free. Anything above that will have to be paid by the consumers.
- Similarly, if a consumer uses about 150 units of electricity a month on average, he can get free power up to 165 units of power.
- Houses with more than 200 units as the monthly average won’t come under the newly introduced free electricity scheme. They will have to pay the full bill amount.
- If one house has two or three meters (RR number), only one will be considered for the scheme.
- The excess consumption will be the ‘net bill’ for consumers and will be printed in bills generated from August.
- The scheme is applicable only to domestic connections and not for commercial use.
- Households that want to avail of the offer will have to apply on the Seva Sindhu portal.
- It is an Aadhaar-linked scheme. Customers will have to link their customer IDs to Aadhaar numbers.
Furthermore, the state government has stated that existing poor power supply schemes, such as Bhagya Jyothi and Kuteera Jyothi, will be merged under the new scheme.
‘Shakti’ scheme
In addition to the ‘Gruha Jyoti,’ the government has issued orders to implement the ‘Shakthi’ free bus travel for women scheme beginning June 11.
The beneficiaries will be given ‘Shakthi Smart Cards’ by the transport department. Women passengers can obtain these cards in the next three months and travel on buses for free. The scheme exempts luxury buses such as Rajahamsa, non-AC sleepers, Airavat, and Ambari.
In addition, the government has stated that 50% of the seats in buses operated by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation will be reserved for men.
