PATIALA: The
Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) on Thursday approved the new tariff order for the power consumers which has increased the cost of power by 2.17% to fil in the gap of revenue and expenditure of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. The commission has also increased the fixed charges for all the category of consumers by Rs. 10 per KW. The new tariffs have come into effect from April 1, onwards.
As per the tariff order, the domestic tariff has been increased by 10 to 14 paisa per unit and fixed charges have been increased by Rs 10 per KW. Industrial supply has been increased by 10 to 13 paisa per unit and fixed charges by Rs 10 to 15 per KVA.
The gross revenue requirement has been assessed at Rs. 32486 crores and there is a cumulative gap of Rs.668.91 crore between revenue receipt and expenditure. The average cost of supply has been assessed as Rs. 6.5549 per unit.
The total amount of balance subsidy is Rs.4768.65 crore and this year’s subsidy amount is Rs.8949.37 crore and thus total subsidy to be paid by Punjab Government has gone up to Rs 13718.02 crore. The subsidy amount is to be paid in 12 monthly instalments of Rs 1143.17 crore each in advance.
As per the tariff order, the total power purchase next year is likely to be Rs 20309 crore at a pooled cost of Rs 3.96 per unit. To reduce the burden of the fixed cost of 20417 million units of surplus power estimated to be surrendered by PSPCL during the year; the commission has decided that any consumption exceeding the threshold limit of maximum annual consumption of last two years by the industry shall be billed at reduced energy charges.
