'Every household’s power bill should be zero': PM Modi on his third term goals

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that reducing electricity costs for the public to zero will be a top priority during his third term. The PM said he aims to slash electricity bills to zero by ensuring every household draws renewable power from rooftop solar panels.

“I want three things. One, every household’s power bill should be zero; second, we should sell surplus electricity and earn money; and third, I want to be self-reliant in the energy sector as the era of electric vehicles will come,” Modi said in an exclusive interview with News18.

The Prime Minister highlighted that switching to renewable energy and electric vehicles would lead to a cleaner environment and savings of “billions of dollars” on petroleum imports.

Last month, the Union Cabinet approved the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, allocating Rs 75,021 crore for installing rooftop solar panels and providing free electricity up to 300 units every month for 1 crore households. The prime minister had launched the scheme on February 13.

The scheme provides central financial assistance of 60 percent of the system cost for 2 kW systems and 40 percent of additional system cost for systems between 2 kW to 3 kW capacity. The central assistance will be capped at 3 kW.

The households can apply for subsidy through the National Portal and can also select a suitable vendor for installing rooftop solar panels.

The website also assists households in their decision-making process by providing relevant information such as appropriate system sizes, a benefits calculator and vendor rating. Households will be able to access collateral-free, low-interest loan products of around 7 percent for the installation of residential rooftop solar systems up to 3 kW.

Other features of the scheme include a model solar village to be developed in each district to act as a role model for the adoption of rooftop solar in rural areas.

Besides, urban local bodies and panchayats will also benefit from incentives for promoting rooftop solar installations in their areas.

The scheme is aimed at adding 30 GW of solar capacity through rooftop solar in the residential sector, generating 1,000 BUs (billion units) of electricity and resulting in a reduction of 720 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the 25-year lifetime of rooftop systems.

At present, India ranks fourth globally in renewable energy installed capacity. During 2023, about 13 GW of renewable energy capacity was added, taking the share of non-fossil fuel sources to 42 percent in the energy mix till January 2024. Solar and wind lead India’s energy transition journey with the country positioned at the fourth spot in wind power capacity and is the fifth largest solar power producer, globally.