Tariff plea

Sarbjit Dhaliwal's article Uncertain legal status of PSEB: Tariff revision plea ignored(Jan 29) was revealing. Actually, the Punjab State Electricity Board has fallen into a trap of its own making by delaying the filing of its annual revenue requirement and tariff petition.

As per the PSERC regulation, the petition was to have been filed by November 30, 2008. Had the PSEB filed its petition around mid-November, with permission from the Central Government, valid up to November 30, the crisis could have been avoided.

As a result of delay by the PSEB in filing its tariff petition and the consequent legal complications as stated by Mr Dhaliwal, there is no chance of finalising the tariff order by March 31, 2009.

As the present tariff order would be operational only up to March 31, there would be a vacuum after that. The larger issue remains that the PSERC regulations have a statutory authority, which the PSEB has flouted by failing to file the tariff petition on time.

PADAMJIT SINGH, Former Chief Engineer, PSEB, Patiala