No major relief for PSTCL from ATE | PSEB Engineers Association

No major relief for PSTCL from Appellate Tribunal for Electricity
V K Gupta16 March, 2012 The Appellate Tribunal has not found any merits in major points raised by PSTCL in their petition and not a surprise, it has failed to get any major relief. 0 0

PUNJAB STATE Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) got no major relief from Appellate Tribunal for Electricity on its petition against Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC).

The appellate Tribunal gave relief to PSTCL on one point only regarding return of equity where it said that in case of two interpretations of law, the interpretation, which is beneficial to the subject, should be accepted.

PSTCL had challenged the PSERC order of May 9 2011 on seven accounts. PSERC order decided the review of the annual revenue requirements of the transmission and state load dispatch business for the year 2010-11.

The seven points raised by PSTCL were regarding employees cost and other O&M expenses. Capital expenditure, Interest payable on account of diversion of funds, depreciation return on equity, and treatment of revenue gap with the erstwhile PSEB and payment security mechanism.

Out of seven point issue of employees, cost was the bone of contention. According to the PSTCL, the PSERC committed error in reducing the cost of the employees for the financial year 2011-12 on the basis of the bifurcation of the PSEB expenses and determining the cost to be allocated to the PSTCL for the year 2010-11 by applying the principle of allowance of proportionate cost instead of examining the case on merit. The disallowance of 28.48% from the amount of the arrears payable by the PSTCL on the ground that the State Commission had in the past disallowed on an average 28.48% of the employees cost was illegal.

The tribunal in its order said that PSTCL being a new entity and transfer of assets and liabilities of the bifurcated entities are yet to be finalized. There is ample scope for review and true up before PSERC.

Tribunal did not find any merit in the claim of PSTCL that PSERC ignored the substantial transmission project to meet the growing load demand of power. Further Tribunal held that the approach of the Commission on fund diversion, depreciation and revenue gap was correct.