Patna: In a major relief to power consumers, the Bihar cabinet on Friday sanctioned Rs 15,995 cr as subsidy under “Mukhya Mantri Vidyut Upbhokta Sahayta Yojana” to provide cheaper electricity to different categories of consumers.
Notably, Bihar Electricity Regulatory Authority (BERC) has been fixing cost based power tariff since 2017-18. The state government has been giving subsidy to consumers every year in order to provide them much needed relief vis-à-vis power tariff rate.
The government has sanctioned Rs 15,995 crore for 2025-26 which is four per cent more than Rs 15,343 sanctioned in 2024-25.
Slab for domestic consumers of rural areas has been abolished and they would be charged minimum rate per unit. Those consuming more than 50 units will be charged less by 54 paise per unit. It would benefit around 1.25 crore rural consumers whereas consumers using pre-paid meters will be given a concession of 25 paise per unit
According priority to agriculture sector, cold storage units will be supplied power at the rate 55 paise per unit which is agriculture rate. This would help in reducing storage cost, thus making agriculture produce available at a cheaper rate to the common people.
The agriculture consumers would be charged at the rate of 55 paise per unit as the government has given subsidy of upto 92 per cent to them.
The minimum rate for BPL Kutir Jyoti family is Rs 1.97 per unit whereas minimum per unit rate has been fixed at Rs 2.45 per unit for rural domestic consumers, Rs 3.35 per cent per unit for commercial (rural), Rs 4.12 per unit for urban domestic consumers, Rs 2.45 per unit for Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal, Rs 6.0 per unit for small scale industries and Rs 6.40 per unit for heavy industries
Speaking on the occasion, energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has kept his promise in providing cheaper, quality and uninterrupted power supply to the people.
The cost of power supply increases with the increase in the cost of its generation, transmission and distribution but the consumers do not have to face the heat of the increasing cost of supply as government gives subsidy to them. “Mukhya Mantri Vidyut Upbhokta Sahayta Yojana” is the live example of state government’s welfare approach, the minister said adding that the scheme would benefit crores of both rural and urban consumers of the state. It is the government’s endeavour to provide cheaper, quality and uninterrupted power supply to every household that would give pace to the economic development of the state.
