Consumers using up to 200 units need not pay bills, says Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced that people consuming up to 200 units of electricity won't have to pay power bills.

The move comes ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, which are due early next year.

Announcing at a press conference, Kejriwal said the Delhi government will give full subsidy to those consuming up to 200 units of electricity and an almost 50 per cent subsidy to people consuming 201 to 400 units.

The decision is effective from Thursday.

The government will have to spend Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore on power subsidy annually, according to the chief minister.

"We hope that with this move, there will be a huge encouragement for electricity savings in Delhi due to no charges for 200 units of power. The electricity load has been increasing in Delhi. "Recently, Delhi's peak power load touched 7,400 MW, which was the highest. I feel that electricity load will reduce due to this move," Kejriwal said.

Since the AAP came to power in February 2015, the Delhi government has been providing 50 per cent subsidy on power bills.

"This is the cheapest electricity in the country. In the last four and a half years, the Delhi government has not allowed any hike in power tariff," Kejriwal said. More reports on P3