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Bilagi shared this information at a workshop organised by BESCOM to encourage the adoption of the central government scheme.
The workshop, held on December 7 at Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTCL), saw the representatives of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) from across the city, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) as well as solar rooftop vendors and other stakeholders discuss the various hurdles faced while executing the scheme.
“We want to promote the use of solar energy in households across the state, thereby reducing our dependence on conventional energy sources and contributing to our national renewable energy targets,” added Bilagi.
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During the workshop, BESCOM MD had instructed the representatives of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) to provide more information about the loans available for the scheme.
Answering a question, the SLBC representatives said the banks have fixed the age limit at 65 years for availing loans under the scheme. But he clarified that a consumer above 65 years old can avail the loan by adding family members as co-borrowers. SLBC representatives also assured those gathered that banks will not ask for any collateral security to avail the loan.
However, BAF representatives pointed out that the banks categorised the apartment complexes seeking loans as MSMEs, although they are not. SLBC representatives said they were forced to do that as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has not issued specific guidelines so far to lending to apartment complexes as a whole.
According to Bilagi, with a total outlay of Rs 750 billion for a period until 2025-26, ‘PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’ aims to provide free electricity up to 300 units monthly to 10 million households across the country. He added that the scheme received an overwhelming response, with over 10 million registrations within a month of its launch in February 2024 and 6.3 lakh installations have been completed in nine months.