Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar Provides Subsidized Electricity to BPL Families with Smart Meters

The Bihar Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is providing subsidies on most of the fixed tariffs (electricity rate) to provide very cheap electricity to the people of BPL families.

The tariff for monthly billing to electricity consumers is determined by the Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission. There are a total of about 59 lakh consumers of BPL category in the state, out of which 10 lakh consumers have installed smart meters in their premises.

Shri Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Hon'ble Minister, Energy Department informed that the State Government is providing subsidy on most of the fixed tariff (electricity rate) (73.4%) to provide very cheap electricity to the people of BPL families of the state. He informed that people in Bihar are being provided cheaper electricity as compared to big neighbouring states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

The State Government has approved a grant of Rs 15,343 crore for the financial year 2024-05 to the electricity consumers of the state under the Chief Minister Vidyut Upbhokta Sahayata Yojana. Thus, out of the electricity rate of Rs 7.42 per unit fixed by the Regulatory Commission for BPL category consumers, Rs 5.45 per unit is borne by the State Government, while consumers of this category are billed at the rate of only Rs 1.97 per unit.

In addition to the facility of recharge by the meter reader at their residence, electricity bill collection counters, Common Service Centre (CSC) working at the Panchayat level, Smart Meter Mobile App and various other online mediums are available for consumers to recharge their smart prepaid meter. Information is given through SMS when the balance of the prepaid meter is less than the average consumption of 7 days of the consumer and again information is given after the balance becomes zero, after which power is disconnected only on the fifth day in rural areas and on the third day in urban areas on working days from 10 am to 02 pm. Apart from this, a push button facility has been provided in the smart prepaid meters of rural consumers using which consumers can keep their electricity supply running even if there is a negative balance for 72 hours (3 days).

Apart from this, it has been decided by the electricity companies to inform the consumers about the working of smart prepaid meters before installing them. Under this, a wide-scale awareness campaign is being run to make consumers aware before installing smart prepaid meters. Old meters are also being kept along with smart prepaid meters in the consumer's premises or government buildings so that consumers can be satisfied with the actual consumption by comparing the consumption in the smart prepaid meter.