The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday urged the Centre not to impose new conditions under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, as they would impact the scheme's feasibility. Additionally, should a Memorandum of Understanding be executed, then the targets might be finalised in concurrence with the Tamil Nadu government "so that they are practical and achievable," state Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji said. The scheme, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year, aims to provide free electricity to households across India by subsidising the cost of installing solar panels on rooftops. In a memorandum submitted to the Union Power, and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal during the recent state power ministers conference in the national capital, Balaji in June 2024, the Ministry of Power introduced an additional requirement to sign an MoU under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana which requires the state to achieve targets set by the monitoring committee, despite these targets not being clearly defined. A release here said Balaji sought the REC and PFC (nodal agencies for Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme) to consider reducing the interest rate to 8 percent given the commitment shown by Tamil Nadu in improving the financial and operational performance of the state power utilities. He requested that approval for a Rs 3,246 crore proposal for System Modernisation, including the establishment of new substations and augmentation works, submitted to the Ministry of Power. The power generated from the offshore windmills may be given to Tamil Nadu through state connectivity instead of Central connectivity, he said. Declaring the Raigarh - Pugalur -Trissur ±800 kV, HVDC transmission system as assets of strategic and national importance and the tariff to be billed under the national component, waiver of transmission charges to the developers be withdrawn and also to grant General Network Access (GNA) to such consumers as per the provisions of Electricity Act 2003 after due approvals from state utility were the other demands.
