Energy Tariff: Punjab skips meeting
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 24
No one represented Punjab to put across the state’s official view in the meeting held to determine guidelines for fixing tariff for the non-conventional energy. The meeting was held in Delhi on Wednesday and convened by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

At the hearing held in this regard by the Commission, representatives of almost all states and other stakeholder presented their viewpoint with regard to the tariff determination and policy to be framed in this regard.

Obviously, the guidelines finalised by the Commission would become a benchmark for all states in near future. The regulations to be framed by the Commission will also affect the states in due course. Punjab is a state which has followed the tariff pattern determined by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The Commission, in fact, had earlier circulated a draft paper in this regard to provide them opportunity to prepare their point of view. The meeting was held to hold discussion for finalising policy guidelines in this regard.

There are several sources of renewable energy such as wind power, generation of power from bio-mass plants, co-generation plant in sugar mills, solar power and mini hydro projects. The Union government has been promoting the generation of power from such sources. In fact, the State Electricity Regulatory Authorities have also been told to promote the generation of renewable energy and fix a percentage for its generation every year.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his ministers often take the Union government to task for framing policies without consulting states. In fact, the Badal government is one of the most vocal critics of the Union government’s programmes and policies and often brands them as useless and non-enforceable for states like Punjab.

However, no one represented the state when the Commission invited various states and other stakeholders for holding discussion on such an important policy matter related to energy. For all the projects to be set up by the Central government organisations in the states, the tariff determined by the Commission would be applicable. For instance, if any company of the Union government sets up renewable energy project in Punjab, it would sell the power at the rate fixed by the Commission.

Sources revealed that a retired Chief Engineer, PSEB, Padamjit Singh, who had gone there in individual capacity and some private stakeholders from Punjab were present at the hearing. Punjab has set up some mini-hydel projects. For the power generated from such projects, tariff has been fixed at Rs 3.49 per unit with effect from 2006-07 at 3 per cent escalation every year till 2011-12, it is learnt. And same tariff has been fixed for the energy to be generated from co-generation plants set up in private sectors in the state.