Transco to go to PSERC for tariff
Gurpreet Singh Nibber [email protected]
PATIALA:

Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (Trasnco) is to approach the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) for approval of energy wheeling charges to be levied on Powercom for moving power from one generating house to grid substations, within and outside states.
With an estimated annual budget of Rs 1,000 crore, Transco, according to its top executive V.K. Gupta, will file a petition in the first week of June when Transco formally becomes an independent body.

Transco, says Gupta, man- ages 50-220 KVA grid substa- tions, 12-132 KVA stations, 561- 66 KVA substations and over 1,000 km of transmission lines.

“Other than moving power from one place to other, we are also running development works for augmentation and capacity addition in the grid substations, apart from put- ting up new lines,“ he added.
In the next two years, Transco plans 250 new grid substations.

Transco also has control of the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), which controls the flow of power in Punjab and also keeps a tab on the power gen- erated at various units within and outside the state.

As per Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) guidelines, an expenditure of between 1 and 3 paise per unit is allowed for handling of energy at the SLDC level, 7- 8 paise per unit for moving power on its transmission lines.

“The petition to be filed by Transco will be framed keep- ing in mind the CERC guide- lines, which will also include local expenditures,“ a senior Transco official said.

The CERC, meanwhile, is working out a fresh formula to calculate wheeling charges per megawatt per kilometre. As the new formula is likely to take some time to be finalised, Transco will move the petition as per the existing formula.

Transco is also supposed to make payments to the Power Gird Corporation of India (PGCI), which deals with the movement of energy from one state to anoth- er. On the pattern of the erst- while state power board, Transco will now make payment to the PGCI. Power lines of 440 KVA handled by the PGCI connect Punjab through Nalagarh and Panipat lines.