PSPCL in the dock over non-payment of interest - Grewal

Ludhiana , 4 February 2014 -
National BJP leader and Secretary All India Kisan Morcha Advocate, Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal today raised an alarm over the non-payment of interest on advance consumption deposit (ACD) to consumers by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in Punjab. Talking with the media persons here today, he said the annual revenue report of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (ARR) has revealed that it would have a liability of over Rs 1,300 crore as interest on the advance consumption deposit (ACD) towards consumers in 2014 -15. Grewal said the advance consumption deposit is paid by the consumers at the time of getting connections. He said that as per the Electricity Act, 2003, the Punjab government bifurcated the PSEB into PSPCL (distribution and generation) and PSTCL (transmission) on 16th April 2010. Before this, the state government formed the Supply Code, 2007. He said that besides, PSPCL recovered the ACD from consumers using above 100 kw in 2010 and the consumers who used between 20 kw and 100 kw from 2013 to 2014. During this time, it also recovered the ACD from domestic and commercial consumers. He told the ADC stood at about Rs 1,501 crore on April 16, 2010 and PSPCL paid Rs 88.31 crore as interest for 2010-11 to consumers. Grewal added that the calculations suggested that Rs 88.31 was the interest on Rs 654.15 crore and the interest on Rs 847.17 remained unpaid out of a total of Rs 1,501 crore. Grewal stated that the Clause 15 of the Supply Code says that PSPCL would take security from the consumers. However, its section 17.4 also made it clear that in case of its failure to pay 12.25 per cent interest on the ACD to consumers, it would have to pay the double of the interest to consumers. Grewal said that there will be a burden of about Rs 1,300 crore on PSPCL in the next fiscal. As per the Supply Code, the ACD is being recovered from consumers for extension of load, change of name, change of tariff and category, power theft, regularisation of load under various schemes of VDS and others.