PSPCL fails to plug loopholes, suffers annual loss of Rs1,500 cr

QUOTE (NOT IN COPY): Detailed analysis on

“We are doing a detailed analysis on all figures. The difference may be due to the billing cycles and collection mechanism.”

– A Venu Prasad, pspcl chairman-cum-md

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 1

Amid high power theft and other discrepancies, official records reveal that the audited revenue figures don’t match with the metered sales of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

“The PSPCL has failed to plug loopholes in divisions causing 60-70 per cent loss against 12-15 per cent in areas, including Bhikiwind, Patti, West Amritsar, Bhagta Bhai Ka and Bhagapurana. What is making matters worse is that losses have started increasing in the recent years. High losses result in increased tariffs and financial loss to the PSPCL,” said Bhupinder Singh, retired deputy chief engineer from the PSPCL.

“Power theft is estimated to cause a revenue loss of Rs 1,500 crore annually, which if saved can reduce the average tariff by 35-40 paisa per unit in the state,” reads a petition submitted by Bhupinder to the PSERC, highlighting discrepancy between the audited energy and the revenue account of the PSPCL.

In a written communication to the PSERC, he states that the metered sales of the PSPCL for 2018-19 don’t match the audited revenue. Also, 1,846 million stolen units had been shown as the metered sales.

During the true up of 2017-18, the power regulator pointed out that the metered sales figures submitted by the PSPCL in its Annual Revenue Receipt did not match with the audited revenue. The PSPCL revised its metered sales from 35,117 million units earlier projected to 33,617 million units and the transmission and distribution losses of 13.68 per cent submitted by the PSPCL were trued up as 16.34 per cent for the year by the PSERC.

For the true up of 2018-19, the PSPCL submitted the metered sales as 36,207 million units and the audited revenue of Rs 23,554 crore. “However, the PSERC again pointed out that the audited revenue does not match the metered sales and assessed the revenue as Rs 24,819 crore instead. Since the PSPCL failed to explain the difference in revenue, the regulator disallowed an amount of Rs 1,265 crore on this account. However, the commission failed to rework the metered sales as per the lower revenue figures, which would be 34,361 million units and thus increased the trued up transmission and distribution loss from 15.04 to 18.4 per cent for the year,” reads the petition.

Bhupinder claimed that “the losses have increased due to the poor maintenance” of the sealing arrangements of pillar boxes, failure to shift out meters in high-loss divisions and “abnormal delay in replacement of dead and burnt meters”. “The private meter readers are playing havoc with the revenue of the PSPCL,” he added.