Jul 17, 04:36 AM

Nitish Kumar Offers 125 Units of Free Power to Bihar Homes Ahead of Polls

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said domestic consumers will receive up to 125 units of electricity free of charge each month starting 1 August 2025, with the benefit reflected in July bills. The measure is expected to cover about 1.67 crore families, or roughly 16.7 million households across the state. Kumar added that over the next three years the government will seek consent to install rooftop or nearby community solar power plants for these households. Under the Kutir Jyoti scheme the state will bear the full cost for extremely poor families and extend subsidies to others, aiming to add as much as 10 gigawatts of solar capacity. The announcement arrives months before Bihar’s assembly elections, anticipated in October-November. Leaders of Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and its National Democratic Alliance partners praised the move as a major welfare step, while opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal accused the government of adopting an idea it had floated earlier.