Free electricity promised by political parties in Karnataka, Punjab and other states will have a negative effect on India's efforts at energy conservation and energy efficiency, central government officials on Monday said, advising states to adopt a cautious approach.
Answering questions during a press conference on the first meeting of the G20 group on energy transition, Union Power Ministry Secretary Alok Kumar said states were at liberty to provide free electricity to farmers and disadvantaged classes.
"There are two aspects in focus here. The first is the legal aspect: State governments have the discretion to provide such subsidies. The position of power ministry is that the state governments reimburse the amount to the distribution companies," he said.
He, however, noted that such announcements may hurt power conservation. "Conceptually, free power has one disadvantage. It takes away all the incentives for power conservation. Governments can give subsidies, but they should also consider that they have a responsibility for ensuring energy conservation. Our advice is, you should charge something. We can give more subsidy to consumers but giving free will affect the national efforts towards energy efficiency and energy conservation," he said.
(Published 30 January 2023, 11:56 IST)
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