PSEB diverts more power to farm sector
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 26
The Punjab State Electricity Board has been incurring a daily loss of about Rs 16 crore on account of transferring power from paying (domestic and industrial sectors) to non-paying (agriculture) sector. However, this loss is compensated for by the state government in the form of subsidy worth Rs 2,300 crore.

The domestic and industrial sectors are subjected to prolonged power cuts to meet the energy needs of the agriculture sector in the paddy transplantation season.

Sources in the PSEB said about 350 or 400 lakh units are daily diverted from paying sector to non-paying sector. From open market, the PSEB is buying power at a very high cost up to Rs 7 per unit. However, the average cost of the power being bought from various sources by the PSEB would be in the range of Rs 4 per unit.

The daily demand of power has gone beyond 1,800 lakh units against the availability of about 1,500 lakh units daily. Normally, the agriculture sector consumes about 100 lakh units. However, during the paddy season, demand in this sector touches a figure of 600 lakh units.

As power is not available in adequate quantity in the open market, the PSEB supplies about 400 lakh units to the agriculture sector, said a senior officer of the PSEB.