Power cost up in Punjab as government hikes tariff by 2.17%

PATIALA: The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) on Thursday approved the new tariff order for power consumers, in which the cost of power has been increased by 2.17% to fill the gap between revenue and expenditure of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).
The commission has also increased the fixed charges for all category of consumers by Rs10 per KW. The new tariffs have come into effect from April 1.

According to 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 10-13 paisa per unit and fixed charges by Rs 10-15 per KVA. The gross revenue requirement has been assessed at Rs 32,486 crore 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 4,768.65 crore and this year's subsidy amount is Rs 8,949.37 crore and thus the total subsidy to be paid by Punjab government has gone up to Rs 13,718.02 crore. The amount is to be paid in 12 monthly instalments of Rs 1143.17 crore each in advance. The tariff order further says that the total power purchase next year is likely to be Rs 20,309 crore at a pooled cost of Rs 3.96 per unit.

To reduce the burden of the fixed cost of 20,417 million units of surplus power estimated to be surrendered by the PSPCL during the year; the commission has decided that any consumption exceeding the threshold limit of maximum annual consumption of the last two years by the industry shall be billed at reduced energy charges.

While the commission decided to give some relief in the fixed charges payable by the Arc Furnaces and PIU industrial category consumers, it increased the fixed charges of another category of consumers and impose 2% charges over the existing energy charges to cover the revenue gap.