City industrialists take up issues related to PSPCL

Members of the the Punjab Development Commission visited Amritsar and held a meeting with city-based manufacturers at the Industries Department office here last night.

The industrialists took up their problems pertaining to Small Power (SP), Medium Scale (MS) and Large Scale (LS) category limits of power consumption. They said the PSPCL has not revised the category limits since their inception.

As per New Supply Code 2024, the PSPCL should demand only 30 days of security deposit from all MS and LS consumers instead of the earlier 45 days' security deposit rules.

The corporation should refund the additional 15 days of security deposit taken earlier by all MS and LS consumers with a time-bound schedule, it was demanded.

The industrialists took up the reimbursement of electricity duty exemptions to new units as the PSPCL was not reimbursing it as per the 2022 Industrial Policy despite having exemption certificates. This was discouraging MSME entrepreneurs of Punjab, they said.

The PSPCL is currently facing an acute shortage of linemen and junior engineers leading to delayed and inefficient services to consumers. PSPCL should take care of staff shortage by appointing qualified and competent persons, they said.

The present time limit for Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC) is 45 days to settle disputed matters. But there are cases that have lingered on for more than three years at Amritsar. DSC decisions require to be implemented in a time-bound way, they said.

Decades-old transmission lines and equipment in the power sub-stations require upgrade for uninterrupted and smooth power supply to consumers. This will also help PSPCL in reducing their transmissions losses and frequent break-downs.

Presently, offices of PSPCL officers are scattered all over the city. For example, the office of the Chief Engineer, Border Range, is on Raja Sansi road, Superintendent and Executive Engineer's offices are outside the Hall Gate and the SDO office is at Mall Mandi. They suggested that the PSPCL set up an integrated office here where officials can work under one roof for speedy results.

Unfortunately, majority of consumers are unaware of MSME schemes introduced by PSPCL for the welfare of industry, it was stated.