Power consumers spared from tariff hike in Punjab

Power consumers in Punjab were today spared from hike in tariff with power regulator PSERC announcing not to raise tariff for the year 2015-16 even as energy rates were slightly reduced for domestic and commercial categories.
In addition to it, the regulator also approved time of day tariff (ToD) for industrial sector wherein large and medium supply industrial categories will get rebate of Rs 1 per unit in power tariff.
Announcing the power tariff for the financial year 2015-16, Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) Chairperson Romila Dubey said, "You will be happy to know that there will be no hike in power tariff as the revenue gap (worked out by regulator for PSPCL) is very little...So there is no tariff increase."

She said the regulator has worked out the cumulative revenue gap of power utility at Rs 45.98 crore as against the cumulative revenue gap of Rs 11,317.78 crore as projected by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) for 2015-16.
"This gap is very nominal. We will keep it as it is," she said.
To meet the projected revenue gap of Rs 11,317.78 crore, PSPCL had sought tariff increase of 44.70 per cent, Dubey said.

After a gap of almost eight years, the power regulator made no hike in power tariff in Punjab especially in case of domestic and industrial categories. In year 2006-07, there was no hike in power tariff. In 2004-05, the power regulator had even reduced rates by 6 per cent.

Notably, PSERC had nominally raised power tariff by 2.74 per cent for 2014-15.
The new tariff rates will be effective from April 1, 2015 till March 31, 2016, she said.
As far as power tariff is concerned, power regulator has reduced the power rates by 4 paise a unit from 456 paise for domestic supply consuming up to 100 units. With more than 100 units of consumption, there was no increase in power rates in domestic supply category.
In case of non-residential supply (NRS) or commercial supply, the rates were decreased from 657 paise to 653 paise for units consumption of up to 100 units.

However, energy rates were raised by 4 paise a unit if consumption is more than 100 units to 675 paise a unit in NRS category.
In case of agriculture sector where farmers are given free power by the state government, the power rates were jacked up by 2 paise a unit to 458 paise.
With industrial sector pitching for no increase in power rates this year, the regulator while acceding to its wish, made no increase in power supply for small, medium, large scale sectors, seasonal industry, bulk supply, cold storage etc.