Partial relief for Punjab power consumers
Relief limited to those consuming load up to 2kw; no hike in fixed rates for industries
PATIALA : The Punjab State Electricity Regulator Commission has reduced the tariff for domestic users who consume least electricity from 25 to 50 paise per unit. However, the relief gets negated for many categories of domestic consumers with an hike in fixed charges (20% to50%). Hike in fixed charges means that a consumer will be paying more even if electricity is not used.
PATIALA : The Punjab State Electricity Regulator Commission (PSERC) on Monday reduced the tariff for domestic users who consume least electricity from 25 to 50 paise per unit, apart from announcing no hike for commercial units with up to 7kilowatt (kw) of load.
However, the minor relief gets negated on count of hike in fixed charges for domestic categories between 20% to 50% for load between 2 to 50kilowatt (kw). Hike in fixed charges means that a consumer will be paying more even if no electricity is used.
However, there is no increase in fixed part of the tariff for small, medium and large industrial, which is reeling under crisis amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
As per the order, except a minor hike of 10 paise per unit for those who are consuming more than 300 units per month in domestic sector, the tariff for domestic and non-domestic consumers remain the same.
There is small hike in tariff for large industrial consumers, but not as heavy as compared to the previous years.
“In view of the hardship being faced by the poor sections of society due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the per unit tariff for domestic consumers with load up to 50kw and for consumption slabs of 0 to 100 units and 101 to 300 units, have been reduced by 50 paise and 25 paise per unit, respectively,” read the PSERC order issued by its chairperson Kusumjit Sidhu. This shall result in a financial relief to the tune of ₹354 crore to domestic consumers.
However, the PSERC tricked the consumers by increasing the fixed charges for 2 to 7kw domestic consumption from ₹45 to ₹60 for every kw of load, and from ₹50 to ₹75 per kw for domestic consumers having load up to 50kw. The fixed charges for those having load between 50 to 100kw have been increased from ₹80 to ₹100 per kw, and from ₹80 to ₹110 per kw for load above 100kw.
THE DEFICIT
Overall, the PSERC in its tariff order effective from June 1, 2020, pegged the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) of the PSPCL at ₹31,100.6 crore against a demand for ₹41,720.9 crore, including the ARR of ₹1,345.3 crore for PSTCL against a demand for ₹1,500.2 crore. The consolidated deficit works out to ₹224.8 crore, which is required to be recovered through tariff in remaining 10 months this fiscal.
“The main reason for the revenue gap is the reduction in projected sales due to the lockdown, resulting in disproportional decrease in revenue as compared to the cost of power purchase,” reads the order.
As per the order, there is no increase in tariff and fixed charges for small shopkeepers having load up to 7kw. The fixed charges are up from ₹55 to ₹70 per kw for non-domestic consumers having load from 7 to 20kw.
The tariff for agricultural sector (AP category) has been increased from ₹5.28/kwh to ₹5.57/kwh against PSPCL’S proposal of ₹6.95/kwh. With this, the cross-subsidy of AP category has been reduced from (-) 17.8% to (-) 14.4%. This will have no bearing on the consumers, but will increase the burden on the government. The cost of free power will cross ₹15,000-crore mark this fiscal due to outstanding amount of subsidy of last five years.
The commission has decided to accept the PSPCL’S proposal to merge the consumption slabs of 301-500 units and above 500 units for DS sub-categories for consumers above 2kw also.