Businessman to meet CPS Suresh Kumar, PSPCL CMD to reduce power tariff for industry

LUDHIANA: On Monday, the different business associations of the city will be meeting Suresh Kumar, chief principal secretary (CPS) to Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, and host of other bureaucrats including power secretary, CMD of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to sort out the issue of non-fulfillment of Rs 5 per unit power for them.
One and half years after promising that the industrialists will be charged Rs 5 per unit for power, chief minister Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government has failed to live up to its commitment and what’s even worse is that the rate of power in Punjab for small industrialist (small power) has instead gone up to Rs 7-8 per unit due to slapping of fixed charges on industrial power consumers since October 2017.
However, the introduction of fixed charges has proved to be a boon for the large-scale industries as the cost of power for such units has come down considerably.
Earlier, under the Akali regime, the charges for small power (SP) connection were reduced from Rs 5.47 per unit to Rs. 4.99 per unit in July 2016 after the then state government agreed to bear the charges beyond Rs 4.99 per unit.
Speaking on the issue, Inderjit Singh Navyug, president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) said, “We recently met Suresh Kumar and apprised him about the ground reality of power rate of Rs 5 per unit. After hearing our grievances, he fixed a meeting with the concerned stakeholders on Monday and assured us that the matter will be resolved. As of now, we can only hope that we will be able to get electricity at Rs 5 unit as it’s been almost two years now since this issue is going on and we are at the receiving end.”
In October, 2017, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) hiked the industrial power tariffs by Rs 0.71 per unit and even slapped retrospective charges on the consumers from April till October, which had caused huge resentment amongst the industrialists.
The issue had snowballed into a controversy and chief minister Amarinder Singh issued a press statement condemning the tariff hike and once again claimed he is committed to providing power at Rs 5 per unit to the industry. The government announced November 1 as the deadline to reduce power charges to Rs 5 per unit. But they missed the deadline.
It was after the industrialists threatened to go on a strike against the government in December that a high-level meeting between various industry associations, then power minister Rana Gurjeet Singh and senior bureaucrats was held in Chandigarh and once again commitment was made that the power charges will be slashed from January 1. However, the matter got delayed and even now, the power rates for the micro and small industry is not Rs 5 per unit.
According to Kulwant Singh, president of Chamber of Industrial and Trading Entrepreneurs, “Small power consumers are still not receiving power at Rs 5 per unit, which was promised by the government. This is mainly because of the two-part tariff system imposed by PSERC on us. We have taken up this matter already with the government and a meeting has been called by the chief principal secretary on Monday. We are sure the issue will be resolved, and the small factories will be able to get power for Rs 5 per unit at the earliest.”