Free power to cost Tangedco Rs 5k cr more

The AIADMK manifesto, if implemented, will cost Tangedco more than `2,200 crore per year as it seeks to provide 100 units of free power to all consumers per bimonthly billing cycle.
At present, there are 78.55 lakh domestic consumers who consume less than 100 units bimonthly. At that level, the power consumed by them will be free. In the next slab, there are 55.36 lakh consumers who consume between 1 and 200 units and they will be saving Rs 150 bimonthly.There are 49.66 lakh consumers who consume between 1 and 500 units and they will save `200 bimonthly and the last level consumers who consume more than 500 units will save Rs 350 bimonthly.
“The burden will be Rs 1,690 crore annually. Already we get Rs 2,560 crore as subsidy from government for providing free power to farmers and hutments,“ said a Tangedco official.