In a major change in the scheme of free power supply to agriculture sector, the AP government led by CM Jagan decided to reimburse the electricity bills to farmers directly, instead of paying power subsidy to the distribution companies (Discoms).
An order to this effect was issued by the government on Tuesday. Hitherto, farmers are being allowed to draw as much power as they want for their agriculture pump sets to draw ground water to irrigate their crops.
Since there are no meters for agriculture power connections, there is no measurement of how much power is supplied to the agriculture sector.
The state government used to reimburse power subsidy to the Discoms based on an average supply to the agriculture feeders once in a year.
On an average, the government is paying Rs 8,400 crore to the Discoms towards power subsidy. Now, according to the latest orders, the Jagan government has decided to install meters for all agriculture power connections.
This will indicate how much power each farmer is consuming for his pump set. Based on the consumption, the farmer should pay the power bill to the Discoms. And the government will reimburse them whatever amount they pay to the Discoms through direct cash transfer.
It remains to be seen how the farmers will receive this order, because they should pay the amount from their pocket first to pay the power bills. And they may not appreciate the idea of fixing meters to the pump sets.
