Sun will not set on nearly 7,000 large scale industries in Punjab. For, the Punjab power regulator on Wednesday announced to provide these units a rebate of Rs1 per unit for functioning during off peak hours — between 10 pm and 6 am.
Making these large scale units “powerful” at night by introducing a novel concept of ‘Time of Day (ToD) tariff’, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) aimed at reducing load and power cuts.
Besides, the move will passed on a relief to the tune of Rs129 crores approximately to the industries.
The Commission is planning to extend this facility for the middle scale units too in the next fiscal year. “We will try to introduce this tariff for medium supply industry category too, though we wanted to bring them under its ambit this year only," Dubey said.
“Tariff would be applicable on about 6,000-7,000 large scale units in Punjab. This will help in dropping the load curve and reducing power cuts….This is optional for the industries and we will incentivise them for functioning in off peak hours by offering them some concession,” PSERC chairman Romila Dubey told The Pioneer.
“ToD will be optional for the industry and it will be implanted from the months of October to March when power requirement is less,” she added.
The proposal to this effect was submitted by the Punjab State Power Corporation limited (PSPCl).
For the purpose, special metres have been installed in these units, which would function with the help of computers, and store all the readings related to the time of power usage, units used, among other things.
“Special metres, costing something around Rs50,000, has been installed that would automatically receive all the required readings. We want Powercom to install these metres in medium supply units too so that we can extend this facility to them also,” added Dubey.
50 % increase in peak load hour exemption charges PSERC also announced hike in peak load hour exemption charges by whopping 50 per cent, aimed at restricting power demand during peak load hours and preventing incidents like grid failure witnessed last year.
“The peak load hour exemption charges have been hiked by 50 per cent and the last revision was made in 1998. At present, the peak load hour exemption charges vary between Rs1.80 per unit to Rs2.70 per unit. The combined average cost of supply for 2013-14 works out to Rs577.75 paise per unit, up from Rs538.66 paise per unit in 2012-13,” said Dubey.
Powercom proposed 59% hike Things would have been worse than ever of the PSERC would have agreed to PSPCl’s proposal seeking a whopping 58.59 per cent hike in power tariff for 2013-14 to cover the cumulative revenue gap of Rs12,053.39 crore for 2013-14.
The state power utility, in its proposal, had sought Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) of Rs23,589.60 crore, which the PSERC determined at Rs21,592.45 crore. The Commission has also determined the consolidated revenue gap of Rs1,782.50 crore.
Two-part tariff structure put on hold State power regulator has yet not agreed to the “Two-Part Tariff” proposal submitted by the PSPCl for retail supply consumers. The decision has been taken in view of the objections raised by various stakeholders.
The proposal has been considered for implementation from the next fiscal year, 2014-15. “Powercom has been asked to examine the issues raised by the stakeholders and conduct mock trial or parallel run of the proposed two part system, at least in five selected divisions for six months and submit a detailed report along with revised proposal,” said Dubey.
Powercom had suggested a two-part tariff structure “featuring separate fixed and variable charges” As per the proposal, the power consumers in Punjab may have to pay “fixed charges” for consuming electricity irrespective of their energy consumption, as well as variable charges; in lieu of current ‘single tariff structure’ whereby consumers pay bill on per unit energy consumed.
Cost of Supply introduced
The ‘Cost of Supply’ study, carried out by the PSPCl, has been approved by the PSERC; category and voltage wise tariffs have been determined by the Commission for 2013-14.
In order to move in this direction, some rebate to consumer categories catered at higher voltages has also been approved by the Commission —25 paise per unit relief in all categories to consumers availing 220/132 kV, 20 paise per unit to 66/33 kV, and 15 paise per unit to 11 kV for domestic, NRS, medium supply, agriculture, high-tech, and compost plants, and solid waste managements plants.