No hike in power tariff for now, regulator tells PSPCL

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 23

Coming to the rescue of consumers, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has said the recovery of additional coal levy, as sought by the PSPCL, would not be imposed this year.

The PSERC was hearing public views on the petition of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Thursday. The corporation has sought the recovery of Rs 391.46 crore from consumers, which the company had to pay to the Centre after its coal mine was de-allocated following Supreme Court orders. 

The chairperson of the PSERC said since the tariff order for the current financial year had been issued, no upward revision of the tariff was possible now. “The PSPCL should come up with the proposal in the next year’s annual revenue requirement (ARR),” he said.

Padamjit Singh, retired Chief Engineer of the erstwhile PSEB, said the PSPCL should have filed the petition, seeking the recovery of Rs 391.46 crore from power consumers in the state, in January, instead of April.

“Since the CAG in its recent audit report has given numerous instances of how the EMTA group had been overcharging the PSPCL, the recoveries should be made from EMTA and not the consumers,” he said.

“The average tariff in the state is about Rs 6 per unit and the state government levies an additional cess of at least Rs 1 per unit, which is the highest in the country. The industry will be hit hard if the tariff is hiked further,” said Rakesh Goyal, president, Patiala Industry Association. 

A recent CAG report says while the Coal India charged Rajmahal Coal Mine Rs 758.89 per tonne for mining, the PSPCL was charged Rs 1,062.50. This non-determination of coal price on cost-to-produce basis had resulted in over payment to EMTA, it said.

Power deficit state

While the state government has been claiming for the past few years that the state would become power surplus, the PSPCL’s petition reads, “As per the availability-demand scenario, the gap between the demand and availability worked out to be 3,561 million units (MUS). In order to provide uninterrupted supply this gap needs to be bridged and the only option available is to purchase power from the market.”