Chandigarh, Mar 8 (PTI) Power consumers in Punjab will now pay lower service charges for enhancing their electricity load under a new scheme, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Friday.

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has been directed to launch the scheme for consumers having agriculture, domestic and commercial power connections, an official statement said.

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He said that those consumers having agriculture connections and are willing to enhance their load of tubewell, connections will have to now pay Rs 2,500 per horsepower as service charges against Rs 4,750 per horsepower fixed by Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Mann said that the security for this has also been slashed to half by Rs 200 per horsepower against Rs 400 horsepower earlier.

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He said that for residential connections, for enhancement of load up to 2 kilowatts, the rates have been reduced to Rs 225 per kilowatt instead of the existing Rs 450.

Similarly, for enhancement of load between 2 to 7 kilowatts the rate has been reduced to Rs 500 per kilowatt from Rs 1,000, for 7 to 50 kilowatt rates have been slashed to Rs 750 to Rs 1,500 per kilowatt and for 50 to 100 KVA rates will be now Rs 875 from existing Rs 1,750.

He said that as per the scheme for commercial consumers, the rate for enhancement of load up to 7 kilowatts has been reduced to Rs 500 from Rs 1,000 per kilowatt.

Mann said that for the enhancement of load from 7 to 20 kilowatts, it has been decreased to Rs 800 from Rs 1,600 and for 20 kilowatt to 50 KVA, it is slashed to Rs 800 from the existing Rs 1,600 per kilowatt.

He asked the consumers to take maximum benefit of this scheme and apply for enhancement of the load, if any, with PSPCL authorities.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)