Guwahati, Jan 20: Assam Power Minister Prasanta Phukan on Monday said that there is no possibility of a hike in the power bill and the Electricity Department has not taken any decision in this regard.
Phukan told reporters here, “I have not heard from the department officials to hike tariff of power bills in the state. As of now, the department does not have any such plans to put a burden on consumers.”
The minister also asserted that the smart power meters installed in the households across the state have been working well and these are not giving any inflated power bills. Earlier, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government has been emphasising installing solar rooftop capacities across the state.
He said that Assam already generates 1.8 megawatts of electricity through rooftop solar capacities. Under PM Surya Ghar Yojana, rooftop solar panels have been installed across the state in many households.
The government machinery has been working to increase the number of solar panels. Sarma said that Assam is moving towards generating huge green energy in the coming years. The state government has set a target to achieve maximum green energy by 2030. Several policy changes have been introduced to meet the target.
A senior government official said that the requirement of technical feasibility approval for installing a 10-kilowatt solar rooftop panel has been waived to speed up the process. Among other facilities, the rooftop solar panels will be installed within three days of its application by any household and a smart electric metre will also be installed without any extra cost, the official added.
The official further stated that solar power generation from unused space on rooftops and wastelands surrounding buildings has a lot of potential. Each home, business, industrial, or other type of facility can create small amounts of power that can be utilised to partially meet the needs of the building’s occupants and, if any, can be supplied back into the grid.
While the cost of electricity produced by fossil fuels is rising daily, the cost of solar power is trending downward. “The cost of electricity produced by currently constructed solar plants is comparable to, or less than, the commercial tariff for end users,” he added.
IANS