Electricity companies of Bihar are soon going to bring such a proposal through which electricity consumers will be able to earn from smart prepaid meters. Under this proposal, now the electricity company will give interest to consumers on keeping advance money in smart prepaid electricity meters. Consumers will get this interest according to the amount available in their prepaid account like a bank’s savings account. Whatever amount is in one’s account, interest will be given accordingly. This proposal of the company will soon be sent to the state cabinet. After getting approval from the cabinet, this facility of the electricity company will be implemented in the new year.
How much will have to be kept in advance
According to company officials, to avail interest as per savings account, consumers with load less than 20 kW will have to keep at least Rs 2,000 in the prepaid electricity meter. At the same time, there is no limit on the maximum amount. You can keep the eight rupees you win today. If consumers keep a minimum advance amount of Rs 2,000 in their smart prepaid meter for three consecutive months, they will be given the amount as fixed interest on the savings account by the Reserve Bank of India.
How much interest will you get?
If a consumer keeps the advance amount for more than three months, he will be given 0.25 percent more interest. Consumers will get 0.50 percent additional interest on keeping advance money for six to nine months. Similarly, for keeping the amount in advance for nine to 12 months, consumers will be given 0.75 percent additional interest, while for keeping the amount in advance for more than 12 months, consumers will be given one percent additional interest.
Where will this amount be spent
At present there are more than one crore 89 lakh electricity consumers in the state. If even 10 percent of these consumers deposit the advance amount in their smart prepaid meter, then the number will be around 19 lakh. If these consumers also deposit the minimum amount which is Rs 2000, then this amount will be Rs 380 crore every month. In this way, the company will deposit more than Rs 4,550 crore as advance in a year. In such a situation, the power company will not have to take the money which it used to take on interest from financial institutions to spend on development projects. Billy Company will be able to spend the advance amount on these projects.
Now you can get discount on paying electricity bill
Electricity companies still give various discounts to consumers on paying electricity bills. If you pay the electricity bill on time, you get a discount of one and a half percent. One percent additional discount is available on online deposit. Additional discount of half percent is being given on prepaid meters. Apart from this, various online platforms also give various coupons on paying electricity bills. In rural areas, an additional discount of one percent is being given on paying offline bills for three consecutive months.
How many electricity consumers are there in Bihar?
According to the information, at present there are 1 crore 89 lakh 56 thousand electricity consumers in Bihar. Of these, 1 crore 67 lakh i.e. 88 percent are consumers of domestic category. Whereas the number of non-domestic category consumers is 14 lakh i.e. seven percent. Whereas the number of agricultural connections is five lakh i.e. three percent. The number of industrial connections is two lakh i.e. one and a half percent and the number of other category consumers is one lakh i.e. 0.5 percent.