The state government is looking at different ways to reduce the financial burden caused by the whopping power subsidy bill of Rs 16,400 crore. On the agenda is doing away with the power subsidy for farmers having over 10 acres of agricultural land and shifting connections of tubewells to solar power.

 there are 14 lakh tubewell connections in Punjab and connecting all these to solar power will entail a capital cost of Rs80,000 crore.
Solar power is available at Rs2.95 per unit while the average cost of thermal power is Rs4.05 per unit.

The power subsidy bill, which includes subsidy to farmers, industry and socially disadvantaged sections, is Rs 10,600 crore for 2020-21, while another Rs 5,759 crore is pending for the previous year. Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the revenue loss faced by the state in the first quarter of 2020-21 would be Rs 7,000 crore.