Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced that all domestic consumers will get up to 125 units of electricity free each month starting August 1, 2025 (applicable from the July bill cycle). The state estimates about 1.67 crore households will benefit. The announcement, made ahead of the assembly polls, sets a clear start date and specifies the consumer universe—two details that have since been reiterated by multiple outlets.
Alongside the tariff waiver, the government has tied the subsidy to a clean-energy pivot. Under the Kutir Jyoti umbrella and in tandem with the PM Surya Ghar rooftop programme, Bihar plans to support household solar installations and targets up to 10,000 MW of solar over three years. For extremely poor families, the state says it will bear the entire cost of installing solar, while others will receive partial support. This coupling seeks to cushion the fiscal impact over time by cutting grid demand growth and improving supply quality.
On the fiscal arithmetic, early briefings and cabinet notes suggest additional subsidy needs in the range of ₹3,000–₹3,800 crore this fiscal, with total power-subsidy outlay approaching ~₹19,000–₹19,800 crore over the rollout window cited in media reports. Estimates differ across sources—reflecting evolving coverage and accounting baselines—but the direction of travel is consistent: a heavy near-term hit offset, in part, by the solar plan and by capping the relief at 125 units.
Implementation has begun to show up on bills. Distribution circles report “zero amount” printed for eligible rural consumers without any separate application, and utilities have deployed spot-billing teams to smooth the transition. The state-owned North Bihar Power Distribution Company, for instance, detailed the number of field teams mobilised in East and West Champaran for bill distribution and on-the-spot processing. These early operational signals matter because they indicate the waiver is being embedded into routine billing rather than run as an offline claim.
Why 125 units? In many Indian states, a large share of low-income households consume near or below this threshold, so a capped waiver can deliver sizable relief while discouraging wasteful use. Bihar is framing the move as the next step in a 20-year power-sector turnaround—from chronic shortages to near-universal household access—and now, targeted affordability plus a rooftop-solar scale-up. Recent public events led by the CM have repeated the 1.67 crore beneficiary figure and cast rooftop systems as the “logical next step” after access and affordability.
What to watch next:
- Cabinet/GR notifications & DISCOM advisories—to lock in the operational fine print (billing slabs, pro-rata rules for mixed-month consumption, and grievance redress timelines). Early coverage already notes cabinet approval of the scheme and allied solar spending lines
- Targeting & leakages—how well the 125-unit cap is enforced across meter classes, and whether non-domestic misuse is curbed.
- Solar pipeline—actual MW added under Kutir Jyoti/PM Surya Ghar support versus the 10 GW ambition; vendor empanelment and subsidy disbursal speed will be leading indicators.
In short, Bihar’s “125-unit-free + rooftop-solar” combo is designed to deliver immediate household relief while nudging the energy mix greener. The promise stands on three quantifiable pillars—start date (Aug 1), coverage (1.67 crore homes), and a three-year solar build-out—all now on record across multiple reputable sources.
