Over 9.66 lakh farmers benefit from power subsidy in state

In 2011-12,over Rs 2,890 crore was given as subsidies to 9.02 lakh farmers in the state.

In a supplementary question posed by BJP MLA Vagji Patel,the government stated that in the last two years,electricity tariff for farmers using horse-power-based connections has been raised by Rs 180 (per horse-power) annually.

However,this increase — decided by the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) — has not been passed on the farmers and have been completely absorbed by in form of subsidies provided by the government.

The farmers are also not charged fuel surcharge and so there is no increase in the financial burden due to the rise in electricity tariff,the reply stated adding that power tariff for farmers having metered power connections have also not been raised during the last two years.

Nuclear,hydro projects supplying cheapest power

Nuclear and hydro power projects have been supplying the cheapest electricity to the state. In the last two years,the cheapest power has come from Ukai Hydro project,which cost 40 paise per unit. In 2012,the state bought 650 million units of power from this project of the Gujarat State Electricity Ltd,stated the government in a detailed list of entities from which it had bought power over the last two years.

This list of power generating companies is part of the government’s written reply to a question asked by Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar. The second most cheapest electricity came from the Nuclear Power Corporation – Tarapur,which sold 959 million units at the rate of 95 paise per unit in 2012.

In comparison,the most expensive electricity came from solar power producers at Rs 14 per unit.