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53.61 crore power over drawl by PSEB in a week
05-Apr-2010 By: Vinod Kumar Gupta

Chandigarh: PSEB has overdrawn power in excess of schedule from the northern grid worth Rs. 53.61 crore in third week of March to keep the power cuts within limits.

According to energy accounts issued by Northern Regional Power Committee PSEB over drew 850 lakh units of power at average cost of Rs. 6.31 per unit from the northern grid from March 15 to 21 this year. On March 18 energy rate was maximum at Rs. 7.83 per unit followed by Rs. 7.30 per unit on March 17.

PSEB purchase maximum power of 172 lakh units on March 16 worth 12 crore followed by 144.7 lakh units on March 15 for Rs. 9.78 crore.

Earlier during period 14-20 March PSEB spent Rs. 45 crore to purchase 888 lakh units of power at average rate of Rs. 5.08 per unit.

A senior PSEB official said power purchase route through over drawl from grid shows poor planning. Had the proper planning been made in advance PSEB would have got cheaperpower.

It may be mentioned that Haryana also adopted this route and over drawl of 700 lakh units of power was resorted worth Rs. 41.54 crore. UP made power purchases worth Rs 29.44 crore during the same period 15-21 March.

Power rate for over drawl of power from grid is Rs 1.80 per unit at 50.0 Hz, Rs 4.80 per unit at 49.5 Hz , Rs 7.35 per unit at 49.2 Hz , and Rs 10.29per unit below 49.2 Hz. During shortage conditions grid frequency remains low and energy rate goes up. Over drawl below 49.2 Hz is prohibited and attracts a 40% surcharge as a commercial deterrent. Nevertheless during week 15-21 March the surcharge for over drawal below 49.2 Hz was Rs 4.53 Crore for Punjab, Rs 2.83 Crore for Haryana and on U P the surcharge was Rs 4.76 Crore.