Competitive bidding best for power projects: PSERC
Says Punjab generation policy may lead to rise in tariff rate
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 16
Notwithstanding the claims of the state government that the Punjab Power Generation Policy-2010 was aimed at accelerating the addition of generation capacity, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has reiterated that some sections of the policy would lead to an increase in the power tariff in the state.

As per a communiqué sent by the PSERC to the Secretary (Power), it has been conveyed that awarding thermal power projects to private players through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) route was "not in the overall interests of the consumers" and, hence, a competitive bidding route be adopted to award the new power projects.

After Punjab notified the Punjab Power Generation Policy-2010 in June 2010, the PSERC had written to the state government that the policy “was not in accordance with the Central Electricity Act, 2003, National Tariff Policy and, therefore, needed to be reviewed. However, documents procured by The Tribune show that in its reply to the letter by the PSERC, the state government justified the policy.

Not convinced with the state government's reply, the PSERC has again written a letter to the state government, the excerpts of which read, "As per the decision taken in the meeting of the Group of Ministers, Union Government, in December 2009, the states should fully migrate to procurement of power by distribution companies (Discoms) through tariff-based competitive bidding for public and private sector generation and transmission projects."

Secretary (Power) Anirudh Tiwari said he could not issue any categorical statement off-hand. "I will go through the PSERC letter and if there is anything that needs to be done, it will be looked into," he said.

For a new process

PSERC has conveyed to the government that awarding thermal projects to private firms through MoU route is against the state’s interests
Says a competitive bidding route should be adopted to award new power projects
Engineers to resume stir from today

The PSEB Engineers' Association has resumed its statewide agitation as its demands had not been met by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. On November 17, engineers would boycott work from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm. On November 22, they would stage a state-level dharna in Patiala and on November 30, they would proceed on mass casual leave.

Their main demands…

The revision of generation incentive
The revision of local outdoor duty allowance
Transfer of 66-KV system to PSPCL from PSTCL
Time-bound promotional scale for PSPCLofficers and employees
Promotion of 325 linemen to post of junior engineers