NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, on September 25, announced that tenants in the city will now get free electricity up to 200 units under a new scheme of the Delhi which will allow them to install prepaid meters.
According to the government estimates the Tenant population in the city is over 2 crore. Under the ‘Mukyamantri Kirayedar Power Meter Yojana’, the tenants will also be entitled to get prepaid power meters installed at rented properties which will supply electricity at subsidised rates”, announced the CM at a press conference.
The electric meters provided under the scheme will be installed only on domestic consumer properties, said the Delhi government.
The CM further announced, “Tenants, so far, were not able to get a separate power meter because they were required to take a no-objection certificate [NOC] from the homeowner to get an independent connection. Tenants will now get a meter using just two documents: rent agreement/receipt or any identity card.” The electric meters provided under the scheme will have stickers on them bearing the name of the scheme, he added.
While people incurring bills for consumption of 200 units of electricity are exempted, those consuming 201 to 400 units will be given half subsidy.
The scheme is intended to benefit multiple tenants living in separate units of a single property. As in most such cases there is only a single meter but the consumers are multiple and this results in huge electricity bills. Therefore, through this scheme each unit can have their own meter and will pay for what they consume only. This step will benefit the lower middle class section residing in the city in such conditions.
“The landlord charges tenants ₹8-₹10 per unit. With separate connections, many tenants will now get free electricity. On the other hand, the landlord is also likely to get the benefit of subsidy on unit consumption for up to 400 units. The scheme is beneficial to the tenant as well as to the landlord,” CM said.