Key points
- Punjab waives ₹518 crore of penalties and interest on unpaid domestic power bills.
- About 24.86 lakh families owe ₹2,516 crore in all and need pay only the principal.
- 25 per cent upfront, the rest in instalments, and the scheme stays open for 45 days.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday, November 13, announced a one-time settlement scheme for unpaid household electricity bills, waiving all penalties and interest on dues up to March 31, 2026. About 24.86 lakh domestic consumers are eligible, and the state says the waiver is worth ₹518 crore. The window opens today, Saturday, and stays open for 45 days.
Mann spoke at a press conference in Chandigarh. “All penalties and interest on outstanding bills up to March 31, 2026, have been completely waived,” he said. “Now, only the principal amount needs to be paid.” He called it a major relief for domestic consumers and said, “Our government is the people’s own government.”
What the scheme says
Under the terms reported from the announcement, a family with an old bill pays only the principal. The late payment surcharge and the accumulated interest are written off entirely. The state government bears the ₹518 crore.
Payment is in two parts. A quarter of the principal is due upfront, and the remaining three quarters can be cleared in instalments spread over up to a year. Reports differ on the exact schedule: one says six equal monthly instalments, others say two instalments of six months each. The notification that follows the announcement is where the schedule will be fixed. One report adds that families in financial difficulty may get a further six months.
The scheme covers connections that are still live and those already disconnected over unpaid bills. A disconnected connection can be restored once the principal is paid. Total outstanding liabilities under the scheme are about ₹2,516 crore, of which ₹518 crore is penalty and interest.
What it means for a household
Our own arithmetic from the government’s figures: with ₹2,516 crore due from 24.86 lakh families, the average household owes about ₹10,100 in all. The waiver removes roughly ₹2,080 of that on average, leaving a principal of about ₹1,998 crore across the state. A quarter of that, close to ₹500 crore, is what the Punjab State Power Corporation could see come in at the start if every family takes it up. Averages hide a wide spread: a family cut off years ago may owe far more, and one that is two months late far less.
The practical gain is for those who stopped paying because the penalty had grown larger than the bill. For them, the cost of getting a connection back is now the original amount owed, which may be paid in parts. Consumers should wait for the utility to send them a detailed bill with the revised amount; the Punjab State Power Corporation is expected to issue these soon.
Why now
The announcement comes with Punjab due to elect a new Assembly early in 2027; the Election Commission has not yet announced dates. The Aam Aadmi Party has already named 71 of its 117 candidates, in lists of 40 on October 31 and 31 on November 12, and Mann made this announcement at a press conference in the same week. The government has not said who the defaulters are or why the dues built up.
Settlement schemes of this kind are not new to the state. An earlier Punjab government waived outstanding domestic electricity bills up to December 31, 2021, and later extended a separate settlement window for government departments that had failed to clear their own power dues. What is different now is the size: ₹2,516 crore is owed by nearly 25 lakh households.
Reaction
The opposition has not yet answered the scheme directly. Former state BJP president Sunil Jakhar, responding to Mann’s press conference, chose to attack the government’s law and order record, alleging patronage of mafias and a rise in sacrilege incidents, and said he would seek answers from AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. He did not address the power waiver itself in the remarks reported.
The BJP, meanwhile, is preparing a “Samrasta Sankalp Yatra” for Scheduled Caste voters, running from Jalandhar on November 18 to Varanasi on December 3, a sign of how crowded the pre-election calendar is becoming.
What happens next
The 45-day window runs from today, which puts its close at about December 28. Between now and then, the Punjab State Power Corporation is to send consumers detailed bills showing the principal due, and the notification is to fix the instalment dates. The reports of the announcement do not say what happens to a family that does not apply within the window.
Two questions remain open. The government has not said how many of the 24.86 lakh families are on disconnected connections, and it has not said how the ₹518 crore will be paid to the power corporation, from the budget or from a subsidy head. Both answers will decide whether the scheme brings in the cash the utility needs, or only clears its books.