Power tariff goes up by 2.74 pc - Second lowest hike in SAD-BJP regime; to come into effect retrospectively from April 1

Saturday, 23/08/2014

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140823/punjab.htm#1

Chandigarh : Power consumers in Punjab will now have to pay an additional 11-13 paisa per unit on electricity they consume. The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) today announced the revised power tariff for the current financial year.

The tariff has been hiked by 2.74 per cent and the raise will come into effect retrospectively from April 1.

The monthly minimum charges have also been raised for almost all categories. Only the domestic consumers, consuming between 0 and 100 kilowatt hour (KWh) per month, have been left out.

This is the second lowest hike in power tariff during the SAD-BJP government’s rule since it came to power in 2007. Last year, the hike was 9 per cent while it was 12.08 per cent in 2012-13. The highest hike of 12.42 per cent was implemented in 2009-10.

The low hike may not only be due to political compulsions facing the government on account of anti-incumbency, but also because of a lower consolidated revenue gap this year — Rs 593.63 crore as against Rs 15,550.64 crore projected by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). The revenue gap is passed on to the consumers as tariff hike.

Another reason attributed to the low hike is that the subsidised power component (mainly to agricultural consumers) has been reduced. By ensuring that the PSPCL segregates all its agriculture feeders, the PSERC has found that the actual power going to the farm sector is much less than what is being projected. It has long been suspected that the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses of the PSPCL were being wrongly shown as subsidy to the farm sector.

Romila Dubey, PSERC chairperson, said that during the last fiscal, 9,726 million units (MUs) of free power was provided to the agriculture consumers. She claimed the PSPCL had put the figure at 11,034 MUs.

An excess amount of Rs 313.59 crore was, thus, paid to the PSPCL on account of the subsidised power.

“Over the years, power subsidy has been passed on to the PSPCL as per its projection. It is only now that we have started verifying the actual consumption by agriculture consumers... It is up to the state government to recover the excess subsidy that has been paid to the PSPCL,” said Dubey.

2 new initiatives

With new power plants set up in the public-private-partnership mode getting commissioned and starting generation, the state is expecting to become power surplus this year. Therefore, the government has introduced two new initiatives: additional allocation of Rs 500 crore for improving transmission system and a scheme of “more you consume, less you pay”.

A rebate of Re 1 per unit would be given to consumers other than agriculture consumers and for street-lighting beyond their threshold limit to encourage them to consume more energy. The threshold limit will be calculated after considering a consumer’s power consumption in the past three years.

The commission has also introduced “Time of Day” tariff for large-supply and medium-supply industrial consumers. In case these consumers operate their units in off peak hours (around 9 pm), they will get a rebate of Re 1 to Rs 1.50 per unit.

The seasonally operating industry has also been provided relief by allowing it to run as general industry (on a lower tariff) throughout the year. Besides, rationalisation of late payment surcharge has been introduced and separate connections are now being allowed in industrial premises.

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RANA GURJIT SINGH INAUGURATES MARKFED SALES BOOTH AT LOHIAN

Thursday, 01/08/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/07/31/rana-gurjit-singh-inaugurates-markfed-sales-booth-at-lohian/

Jalandhar : In a major step to boost the rural economy besides providing employment to youth in villages, MARKFED has launched a sale booth in Lohian, which would, provides more than 100 eatable items.