Chandigarh, July 17 -- Occupants of government houses in Chandigarh are seeing red over the solar electrification project as they are now being told to pay solar-user charges.

Rooftop solar plants were installed over 5,000 out of the total 6,200 government houses in the city in February this year, as part of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. The houses are located across Sectors 7, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, and 39.

The charges, collected by Chandigarh Power Distribution Limited (CPDL) on behalf of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST), are reflected as additional fees in the monthly power bills. For houses with a 6-kilowatt solar plant, occupants are paying Rs.3,000 every two months-calc...