June 6, 2023: The Karnataka government on June 5, 2023, issued guidelines to avail of free electricity under the Gruha Jyoti scheme. Registering on the Seva Sindhu portal has been made compulsory for availing of free electricity up to 200 units. According to the guidelines, the scheme is only for residential usage.
During billing, additional usage bills will be given to customers excluding free units under the scheme. Zero bills will be given to the customer if units are less than eligible units under the scheme. Customers must link their customer ID/account ID to Aadhaar. The remaining electricity balances till June 30 should be cleared within three months, failure of which will result in disconnection.
The monthly average consumption of customers in the year 2022-23 will be used to calculate how many units of free electricity a house will receive under the scheme. Customers will be eligible for only 10% more units of their monthly usage average. The scheme will come into effect in July. People don’t have to pay electricity bills from August if they consume equal or fewer units of their monthly average units.
Energy minister KJ George said that the scheme would require Rs 13,000 crore annually and 96% of households with electricity connections will be covered. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on June 6, 2023, said that tenants were also eligible to get benefits under the scheme.
