PATIALA: The financial survival of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) hinges on the payment of complete subsidy in the current financial year and the clearance of dues by the defaulting government departments.
A huge power subsidy shortfall of more than Rs 5,500 crore till January 31 has left the PSPCL worried, as the figure will jump by the end of financial year 2020-21 and the state government will not clear the subsidy arrears by then, probably. Even the last fiscal, it didn’t clear these arrears worth Rs 5,779 crores. Now, the payable subsidy for the current fiscal is Rs 16,400 crore, of which Rs 10,621 crore is for the year 2020-21.
The agriculture subsidy is more than Rs 6,800 crore, while the domestic power supply subsidy to the Scheduled Caste, below poverty line, and Backward Classes consumers is more than Rs 1,500 crore. This subsidy for the small, medium, and large-supply industrial consumers is about Rs 1,930 crore.
On a pro-rata basis, the subsidy payable up to January 31 is Rs 13,627 crore, of which the Punjab government has paid Rs 6,450 crore in cash to the PSPCL. After adjusting Rs 1,671 crore as electricity duty (ED) and infrastructure development fund (IDF), there’s still a shortfall of Rs 5,506 crore up to January 31.
In its annual revenue requirement (ARR) submission to the regulatory commission, the PSPCL has mentioned total default money of Rs 2,381 crore as on September 2020. Among the departments, water supply and sanitation has to pay Rs 1,203.99 crore, panchayats Rs 209.79 crore, irrigation Rs 117.28 crore, health Rs 108 crore, and local government Rs 557.87 crore.
The dues and the electricity subsidy exceed Rs 7,800 crore. A retired senior chief engineer of the PSPCL said: “It’s a question of financial survival now. The corporation still has to make payments for the power purchased from private generators, central sector power plants, and emergency sources during the lockdown. By March, end of the fiscal, as the subsidy shortfall cross Rs 7,000 crore, either consumers might have to pay more or the PSPCL might have to sell its properties to meet the losses.”
Chairman and managing director A Venu Parsad said: “The state government is paying us Rs 500 crore as power subsidy to raise hopes that will clear the remaining dues also.”