Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission meeting marred by protest

LUDHIANA: The visit of a delegation of Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) officials to the city was a witness to a high voltage drama on Monday.
The delegation was here to to preside over a public hearing for deciding on electricity tariffs for the period 2023-24. Office bearers and representatives of Janta Nagar Small Scale Manufacturers Association (JSMA) sat on protest against the delegation inside the meeting and later staged a walk out.
The protest was triggered by the recent hike approved by PSERC in the schedule of charges of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and the proposal to hike rates of power tariffs. Chairman of PSERC Viswajeet Khanna was presiding over this public hearing in which high ranking officials of PSPCL were also present.
Jaswinder Singh Thukral, president of JSMA who was leading the protest, said, "PSPCL is harassing and tormenting the businessmen by imposing charges like Advanced Consumption Deposit (ACD), fixed charges during the period of COVID19 lockdowns. If this was not enough PSPCL has even stopped giving new connections to industry in several areas without any reason and intimation. Despite industry being the biggest source of income for PSPCL our voice is supressed by both PSPCL and PSERC. Today we walked out of the meeting of PSERC because this meeting is just a formality and regulatory commission has already made up its decision to increase the rates of power for industry in coming days and put more burden on us."
According to Upkar Singh Ahuja, President of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, "We attended a Public Hearing of the PSERC and registered our opposition to proposed hike in electricity rates for 2023-24. We have apprised the PSERC delegation that any such move will prove to be disaster and it should be avoided. PSERC should order PSPCL to start concessional rate of night tariff and we should be charged maximum of Rs. 2.50 Per Unit of power during night."