New Year shocker: Power to get dearer in Punjab by 35 paise/unit

PATIALA: In a major jolt to all categories of consumers in Punjab, power rates will go up by 35 paise per unit from January 1 onwards.

The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission has allowed the PSPCL to levy midterm surcharge that will generate ₹1,788 crore for the corporation.

The surcharge has been imposed as the PSPCL has paid around ₹1,420 crore to private thermal plants as coal washing charges after losing a legal battle. Apart from this, the power utility has also paid ₹66.63 crore as interests on delayed payment of coal washing charges, resulting in the total burden of ₹1490 charges.

Following the Supreme Court orders, the PSPCL has paid ₹421 crore to Larsen & Toubro-run Nabha Power Limited, and ₹1,002 crore to Vedanta Group that runs the Talwandi Sabo plant. The coal washing charges are from 2012 to October 2019.

After paying the amount in October, the PSPCL had approached the PSERC to recover this amount from consumers. The power regulator allowed the PSPCL to recover ₹1,490 crore from consumers in next 12 months.

The corporation has been directed to submit the monthly and cumulative details of category-wise actual sales and recovery on account of the above surcharge.

“The PSERC has approved a hike of 29 paise per unit, but it will effectively come out to be 35 paise per unit as the Punjab government has imposed a 20% electricity duty,” said an official.

THE POWER REGULATOR HAS ALLOWED THE PSPCL TO LEVY MID-TERM SURCHARGE THAT WILL GENERATE ₹1,788 CRORE