Power tariff in Punjab increased by 37 paise per unit—Subsidy increased to 4257.86 crore
Vinod Kumar Gupta, 09-May-2011 01:44:16 AM

Power tariff in Punjab increased by 37 paise per unit—Subsidy increased to 4257.86 crore

Monday May 9, 2011

Chandigarh

Punjab State Electricity regulatory Commission(PSERC) in its tariff order issued today has allowed an uniform increase in of 37 paise per unit on all domestic and industrial consumers for the year 2011-12 except Small Power .

The total amount of Government subsidy for free supply to agriculture consumers for the year 2011-12 works out to Rs.3879.95 crore. In addition, Punjab Government has also committed to pay subsidy amounting to Rs.377.91 crore for free supply up to 100 units per month to SC Domestic consumers and Non-SC BPL Domestic consumers with a connected load up to 1000 watts.

PSERC has increased the domestic tariff from 311 paise per unit to 348 paise per unit on consumption of first 100 units. For the next 200 units tariff will be 488 paise per unit followed by 515 paise per unit on consumption of more than 300 units per month.

The tariff for small scale industrial units the tariff would be 447 paise per unit. For medium and large supply industrial units the tariff would be 495 paise per unit. This is an increase of 37 paise per unit on last years tariff.

For public lighting tariff would be 547 paise per unit. For agriculture pump sets the tariff would be 357 paise per unit or Rs. 299 per BHP per month.

Annual Revenue Requirement of the Punjab State power Corporation Ltd. ( PSPCL) for the year 2011-12 is determined at Rs.15504.11 crore against Rs.18950.40 crore projected by PSPCL. The revenue requirement of PSPCL also includes an amount of Rs.491.45 crore determined by the Commission in the Tariff Order of transmission corporation ( PSTCL) for the financial year 2011-12 on account of Transmission & SLDC charges

As per PSERC order the combined effect of the true up and review exercises for 2009-10 and 2010-11 is a deficit of Rs.2116.69 crore for these years. There is an overall deficit of Rs.2651.51 (2116.69+242.97+291.85) crore after combining the effects of the true up exercise for the year 2009-10, review of annual revenue requirements (ARR) for the year 2010-11, the anticipated gap (Rs.242.97 crore) for the year 2011-12 and an amount of Rs.291.85 crore on account of carrying cost of gaps.

To meet the revenue gap of Rs.2651.51 crore for the year 2011-12, an increase of 18.37% is required across the board. To avoid such a tariff shock to the consumers, the Commission has decided to create a Regulatory Asset amounting to Rs.1325.76 crore and the remaining portion of the gap i.e. Rs.1325.75 crore is being covered by an increase in Tariff. The combined average cost of supply for the year 2011-12 works out to 464.93 paise/unit whereas it was 427.29 paise/unit in the Tariff Order for 2010-11.

Fuel Surcharge of 8 Paise/Unit for metered category and Rs.5/BHP/month for unmetered category (AP) on account of increase in fuel cost during 3rd quarter of 2010-11 will also be leviable. This will also lead to increase in subsidy to AP and other subsidized categories.