Beneficiaries of Kuteera Jyothi scheme will henceforth get 53 units and additional 10% power free every month while those availing Amrutha Jyothi scheme will get 75 units and additional 10% power free, under the Gruha Jyothi scheme, the Karnataka government has announced.
Before the Gruha Jyothi scheme was announced by the Congress government in Karnataka, households covered under Kuteera Jyothi had been receiving 40 units of free electricity every month and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC and ST) families were receiving 75 units free under Amrutha Jyothi scheme, via the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.
Announcement of the Gruha Jyothi scheme, under which domestic households that consume less than 200 units of power will get a zero bill, led to confusion.
Upon a request from electricity supply companies (escoms) to clear the confusion around implementation of the government’s flagship Gruha Jyothi scheme, an order was issued recently.
According to the new order, Kuteera Jyothi beneficiaries will henceforth receive 53 units of free power, which is the average domestic consumption of Karnataka, and an additional 10% units will be free. Those availing Amrutha Jyothi scheme will get 75 units free, and additional 10% units free.
The government had ordered that the Gruha Jyothi scheme will come into effect on July 1. Registration for the scheme began on June 18. Until July 16. A total of 1,13,24,564 consumers had registered for the scheme across Karnataka.
While there have been no rejections or document verifications at the registration stage, the applicants will know if they will be covered under the scheme only after their electricity bill arrives in August.
Although these limits have been fixed, officials of the Energy Department said that even if these units are crossed, the consumers would still be able to get free power up to 200 units, directly under the Gruha Jyothi scheme.
“These are the households, which typically consume within 40 or 75 units, and hence these limits have been announced. But if, for instance, they consume 100 units one month, then they can still avail of the benefit under regular Gruha Jyothi scheme,” said Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Energy department.
