PSEB to bill farmers for power in April, from Jan
Gurpreet Singh Nibber
HindustanTimes.com
PATIALA:

Come April and farmers will have to foot power bills, and that too with retrospec- tive effect from January, as the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has decided to do away with the free power to the agri- cultural sector.
The board has decided to implement a Punjab govern- ment order to charge around 10.8 lakh agricultural consumers for power. According to a deci- sion by the PSEB's full board, the farmers will get power bills in April and they will be charged with effect from January 21.

The move follows a decision by a Resource Mobilisation Committee, comprising Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, that farm- ers pay for the electricity.

The bills will be levied on each tube well at the rate of Rs 50 per BHP per month and will be collected twice a year in April and November.

Farmers use between 5 and 20 BHP pump sets for tube- wells depending on the level of subsoil water. The bill would thus be between Rs 250 and 1,000 per month, and each bi- monthly bill would cost between Rs 1,500 and Rs 6,000.

According to the prevailing agriculture tariff, the consumers are imposed Rs 283 per BHP per month per tubewell.
However, following the deci- sion of providing free power to the agricultural sector, the Punjab government foots the bills in the shape of an advance monthly subsidy to the PSEB.

The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission had given its clearance to the state government, following which it was sent to the state power board for implementation.

PSEB Chairman H.S. Brar confirmed the power board had started the process of recov- ering bills from farmers.

Chief Engineer, Commercial, Tejwant Singh, said he was waiting for orders. "Immediately on getting these, the Resource Mobilisation Committee in January recommended the imposition of "nominal" bills on farmers.

The government, meanwhile, has assured farmers the bills would be reimbursed. SAD mum on BJP demand DESPITE REPEATED assurances by the Punjab government, there has been no development on the issue of rollback of the hike in power tariff on commercial, industrial and domestic consumers. After a rise of 8.4 per cent ordered by the PSERC on September 8 last year for different consumer secdemand tions, the BJP had demanded the benefit of subsidised power also be extended to consumers other than farmers. The ruling SAD gave a few assurances.

However, "we have not received any instructions from the government on the issue," said a senior PSEB functionary.