Patna: CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday asked the concerned officials and engineers in the energy department to complete the installation of smart prepaid meters (SPMs) in all households across the state before 2025. He also denied giving free electricity to the consumers. 12,657 crore will be spent on setting up of SPM including Rs 11,100 crore in rural areas. Till December, 3.5 lakh SPMs have been installed in 19 cities.
The 19 cities where the work of installing SPM is going on are Bettiah, Raxaul, motihari, Sitamarhi, Chhapra, Ara, Arwal, Rajgir, Hajipur, Patna, Masouri, Biharsharif, Samastipur, Dalsinghsarai, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Purnia and Katihar.
The CM also inaugurated completed projects and laid the foundation stone of schemes worth Rs 3,452 crore. He also dedicated the newly constructed Energy Auditorium and Art Gallery electric building, Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Development Commissioner Amir Subhani, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Pratyaya Amrit and Chief Secretary to CM Chanchal Kumar were present on the occasion.
Nitish said the SPM would greatly benefit the power consumers as they would not face difficulties due to wrong billing. “They will pay a fee for the amount of electricity they consume,” he said.
In view of the performance and achievements made by the department on many fronts, the Union Power Minister Rajkumar Singh Yadav praised the state at a high-level meeting in Delhi.
Nitish said that as the work of installing SPM on a large scale has started, some sections may demand free electricity. Rejecting this, he said that the government is making purchasing power of Rs 12,000 crore every year, but the revenue return to the department is only Rs 5,500 crore. The remaining amount is being given as a big relief to the electricity consumers. Nothing will be sustainable beyond this. This, I have said in election meetings also,” Nitish said, adding that power consumption in the state has increased from 700MW in 2004-05 to 6,627MW at present.
The CM said that his government has made remarkable achievements in the power sector and the Center has also given consent to the state to buy power from its quota. He also said that the entry of Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA) in the generation of renewable energy would be another achievement. He laid the foundation stone of schemes worth Rs 1,011.95 crore.
Other projects were projects of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) worth Rs 30.83 crore, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited at Rs 60.04 crore, North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited at Rs 289.87 crore and Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited. Which is worth Rs 2,059.42 crore.
Energy Department Secretary laugh sanjeev He said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, 12 lakh electricity connections have been given through paperless online application submission on Suvidha App. Since 10 pages are required to be filled in each application, the department saved 12 million pages and complied with environmental concerns.
The 19 cities where the work of installing SPM is going on are Bettiah, Raxaul, motihari, Sitamarhi, Chhapra, Ara, Arwal, Rajgir, Hajipur, Patna, Masouri, Biharsharif, Samastipur, Dalsinghsarai, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Purnia and Katihar.
The CM also inaugurated completed projects and laid the foundation stone of schemes worth Rs 3,452 crore. He also dedicated the newly constructed Energy Auditorium and Art Gallery electric building, Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Development Commissioner Amir Subhani, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Pratyaya Amrit and Chief Secretary to CM Chanchal Kumar were present on the occasion.
Nitish said the SPM would greatly benefit the power consumers as they would not face difficulties due to wrong billing. “They will pay a fee for the amount of electricity they consume,” he said.
In view of the performance and achievements made by the department on many fronts, the Union Power Minister Rajkumar Singh Yadav praised the state at a high-level meeting in Delhi.
Nitish said that as the work of installing SPM on a large scale has started, some sections may demand free electricity. Rejecting this, he said that the government is making purchasing power of Rs 12,000 crore every year, but the revenue return to the department is only Rs 5,500 crore. The remaining amount is being given as a big relief to the electricity consumers. Nothing will be sustainable beyond this. This, I have said in election meetings also,” Nitish said, adding that power consumption in the state has increased from 700MW in 2004-05 to 6,627MW at present.
The CM said that his government has made remarkable achievements in the power sector and the Center has also given consent to the state to buy power from its quota. He also said that the entry of Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA) in the generation of renewable energy would be another achievement. He laid the foundation stone of schemes worth Rs 1,011.95 crore.
Other projects were projects of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) worth Rs 30.83 crore, South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited at Rs 60.04 crore, North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited at Rs 289.87 crore and Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited. Which is worth Rs 2,059.42 crore.
Energy Department Secretary laugh sanjeev He said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, 12 lakh electricity connections have been given through paperless online application submission on Suvidha App. Since 10 pages are required to be filled in each application, the department saved 12 million pages and complied with environmental concerns.
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