Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has exempted domestic and commercial consumers from the material and storage cost, as well as supervision charges, for shifting of 11 KV HT/LT lines passing over or along their buildings and not having sufficient electrical clearance.

The exemption was granted after the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh ordered the PSPCL to issue necessary guidelines in this regard to mitigate the hardships faced by the consumers.

The move would go a long way in ensuring the safety and security of residents from high tension wires.

At the same time, the Chief Minister also appealed to the residents to come forward to make optimum use of the benefits offered by the Powercom.

“The consumers had been bearing four prevent of the cost of additional material on account of incidental expenditure, which has now been waived off,” said the spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office.

The spokesperson said that the storage charges at the rate of 1.5 percent on the cost of additional material levied earlier has also been waived off, besides, the transportation and labour charges would also be exempted now in case the same is arranged by the consumer.

The contingencies charges at the rate of one percent on cost of additional material has also been done away with, in a major relief to the consumers, said the spokesperson adding that the supervision charges, which were earlier charged at the rate of 15 percent on labour charges, have also been done away with.

However, supervision of construction work would be undertaken by the PSPCL, said the spokesperson.

Spokesperson said that in addition, the Audit and Accounts and T & P charges, which were both earlier being levied at the rate of 1.5 percent on total cost of estimate, have also been totally abolished.

Referring to additional benefits offered by the Powercom, the spokesperson further said that the charges would only be recovered from the applicant for the size of the original conductor or cable etc in case there is an augmentation of conductor or cable etc.

Likewise, in case augmentation of transformer is required, the cost of same shall be borne by the PSPCL.

“System improvement work, if any would also be carried out by PSPCL on its own, if required.