Speaking to reporters, state Electricity Minister Arcot N Veeraswamy said "Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had ordered against any hike in the power tariff as it would burden the common man".
With free supply of power accounting for 48 per cent of the total power generated in the state, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) had lost Rs 4,500 crore this year due to this scheme.
"To help TNEB supply free power to farmers and huts, the state government would make an annual grant of Rs 1,500 crore," he said.
TNEB was also expecting to make a revenue of Rs 2,000 crore from sale of surplus power to Power Trading Corporation.
The concept of Industrial Holiday, where the industrial sector was divided into six regions and units asked to have staggered holidays rather than Sunday, would cease to exist from tomorrow, he said.
"The scheme was introduced to address the power shortage, but is now being removed as power generation in the state has improved," he said adding that windmills had started generating 1,200 mw to 1,500 mw of power a day from April 27.
Veeraswamy had blamed the lack of wind flow in the windmills a few months back as the reason for the low power generation and the subsequent bleak power situation when the DMK government was facing flak from the Opposition AIADMK. The state would also stop drawing power from neighbouring states as well as the Central pool from June 1.
