As revenue gap widens to Rs 4K cr, PSPCL seeks power tariff hike

Tribune News Service

Aman Sood

Patiala, December 16

In order to bridge the current fiscal’s revenue gap of Rs 4,100 crore, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in its annual revenue receipt (ARR), has asked the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) to “commensurate increase in tariff be allowed for 2023-24”.

Supply & income

• Non-agriculture supply has been assessed at 43,266 million units with revenue of Rs 29,000 crore
• Agriculture supply has been assessed at 12,255 million units worth Rs 6,936 crore
• The total power supply has been assessed at 55,892 million units worth Rs 36,150 crore

Experts said an increase of around 70 paise per unit was needed to meet the revenue gap. After suffering losses due to additional coal costs and rising power rates in the energy exchange, the PSPCL has asked the PSERC to suitably increase the tariff for 2023-24 as “the existing tariff does not meet the revenue requirement”.

The PSPCL had generated Rs 1,069 crore profit in March 2022, but was suffering loss at present and has already taken loan worth Rs 1,500 crore this year to meet expenditures.

The revenue gap from previous years has already accumulated to over Rs 9,900 crore. “The total revenue gap by the end of this fiscal will be more than Rs 14,000 crore,” said a senior official attached with the process of filing the ARR.

The revenue requirement of the PSPCL for the next financial year would be around Rs 42,500 crore as per the existing tariff, thus falling short by Rs 4,100 crore.

“Therefore, there is no option, but to seek a hike in power rates,” said a top PSPCL official. “In the latest industrial policy, the existing tariff of Rs 5 per unit is likely to be revised to Rs 5.50 to make it more feasible for the state government, though the industry has opposed any more hikes,” he added.

“There has been no regular power tariff hike for consumers in the past few years and rather more subsidies have been offered at regular intervals, which have put extra burden on the PSPCL,” experts opined. “Power rates have gone up due to coal crisis in the country,” they added.

In the last tariff order, the non-agriculture total metered supply was assessed at 43,266 million units with revenue of Rs 29,000 crore. The agriculture supply was assessed at 12,255 million units worth Rs 6,936 crore. The total power supply was 55,892 million units worth Rs 36,150 crore.

“The power supply cost comes out to be Rs 6.47 per unit. In the next financial year, due to the increase of power consumption in domestic and other sectors, power supply in the state may increase by more than 6.5 per cent,” said VK Gupta of the All India Power Engineers Federation.

“A little hike will hurt no one. Else, the government will have to bear losses and it already owes hundreds of crores to PSPCL,” said Gupta.

Every year the PSERC clears the tariff orders, inviting objections from various stakeholders and public, on the basis of the ARR filed by the PSPCL for the next fiscal along with the tariff/charges applicable.

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