Regulator finds ₹1,228 cr shortfall in PSPCL’S audited accounts for ’18-19

PATIALA : The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has found a revenue shortfall in the audited accounts of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to the tune of ₹1,228 crore for the financial year 2018-19, pointing towards a glaring discrepancy that has arisen most likely due to an attempt to conceal power theft.

This came to the fore during the full-audit exercise of revenue receipts of the financial year which completed in the last week of May when the power regulator announced the fresh tariff order.

The audit exercise takes about a year to complete and then the PSPCL submits its accounts to the regulator for reconciliation for the period.

As per the tariff order, the regulator approved the metered sales to various categories of consumers at 36,207 million units, including 13,222 million units in domestic category and 17,458 millions in industrial category. Besides metered sales, agriculture motors consumed 10,836 million units totaling up to 47,043 units.

Based on the metered sales, the PSPCL submitted a total revenue collection of ₹30,665.4 crore for the reconciliation of the FY 2018-19. But the PSERC instead worked out the revenue assessment based on the sale of units at ₹31,893.91 crore i.e. a revenue shortage of ₹1,228.50 crore.

Faced with this glaring discrepancy, the regulator wrote to the PSPCL on February 2 to explain the huge difference in revenue accruals. The matter was taken up during the hearing on March 6 when the representatives of corporation could not justify the underassessment of revenue for 2018-19. The regulator thus relied on its own assessment of revenue figures.

Former PSPCL engineer Bhupinder Singh has written to the

CM regarding the regulator’s findings, accusing the PSPCL of concealing power theft in the past. “The energy balance approved by PSERC needs to be worked out and transmission and distribution losses assessed at 15.04% are actually at 18.46%. The reason for the increase in losses is due to an increase in theft of electricity in the state in the last two years because of abnormal delay in replacement of defective meters and lack of supervisory control on sealing of metering equipment, especially pillar boxes,” Singh wrote to the CM.

“The aggregate technical and commercial losses are above 20% against mandated 15% as per the central government’s UDAY scheme to which the PSPCL is a signatory,” he said.

PSPCL SUBMITTED REVENUE COLLECTION OF ₹30,665 CR , BUT THE PSERC WORKED OUT IT AT ₹31,893 CRORE