Taking a cue from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Samajwadi Party is also planning to offer free electricity to the consumers if voted to power in the 2022 UP assembly elections as a means of enticing voters.
The Samajwadi Party however wants to sound different from the AAP and instead of making this promise in its election manifesto, it plans to include this in the larger agenda of campaign to underline the misrule of the Yogi Adityanath government in the state.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav has not made an announcement as yet but banners and posters of party leaders are promising free 300 units of electricity.
The AAP has already promised to provide 300 units of free electricity in Uttar Pradesh. On September 16, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced in Lucknow to provide 300 free units of electricity to domestic consumers every month if his party was voted to power in UP. He also promised free electricity to farmers apart from waiving the bills of 38 lakh defaulters and also 24 hours uninterrupted power supply.
High power tariff in UP could be a potential electoral issue during the 2022 assembly elections. During the four-and-a-half years of the Yogi Adityanath rule in the state, the power tariff has been hiked by 24 per cent in two installments. The tariff was increased by an average 12.7 per cent on November 30, 2017, after the Bharatiya Janata Party government was formed in UP in March that year. After the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, power tariff was again hiked by 11.7 per cent.
Former SP legislator from Ayodhya, Pawan Pandey, said, “The BJP government has harassed the farmers and the common man by increasing power tariff. Instead of doubling the income of farmers, the government has dealt a huge blow by hiking the power tariff and exorbitant prices of petrol, diesel and LPG (cooking gas).”
Sources said that whosoever comes to power in 2022, fulfilling the promise of free electricity will be an uphill task. According to the tariff approved by UP State Electricity Regulatory Commission for the year 2021-22, there are over two crore domestic consumers in UP, which translates to total annual revenues of Rs 26,741 crore. Out of this, 24.3 million consumers are in the ‘monthly 300 units of electricity consumed’ bracket. In 2021-22, the estimated revenue from them was Rs 21,186 crore. At present, the state government gives a subsidy of Rs 11,000 crore to provide electricity at subsidised rates to farmers and below poverty line (BPL) consumers in the state.
Hence, to provide 300 units of free electricity and to maintain the existing cheap electricity rates, experts maintain that the government will have to shell out over Rs 32,000 crore.
“It will not be easy for the government to compensate for the huge loss of revenue due to free electricity. The public may fall for it, but it will have far-reaching consequences for the overall health of the power sector and the economy of the state,” said an official of UP Power Corporation Limited.
With the pressure mounting from the opposition, the ruling BJP is also likely to respond to counter the opposition promise of free power. The BJP is likely to provide some concessions to farmers, small traders and BPL families and outstanding bills for the connections given under Saubhagya scheme could also be waived.