The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has imposed higher power tariff on the industry, effective from June 15 until October 15 in lieu of high demand of power for paddy cultivation.
Industrial consumers will have to pay an additional surcharge of ₹2 per unit during the four peak hours from 6 pm to 10 pm. This takes the total cost to ₹10 per unit from the current ₹8.16 per unit. Without the surcharge, the power cost per unit for the industry is ₹6.80 per unit, with an additional 20 per cent duty.
A senior government official defended the levy of peak-hour surcharge, saying it has been in practice during paddy cultivation season since 2017-18. “The peak load hour or time of day surcharge for evening four hours in paddy season is ₹2 per kVAh since inception of time of day tariff in 2017-18,” he said.
Higher tariffs started being imposed on the industrial consumers in the state during the paddy season in order to discourage them from using power during peak hours, so as to ensure there is enough power availability for the paddy crop which needs to be inundated with water, thereby requiring water pumps that use electricity.
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However, the decision to levy the surcharge this year too has not gone down well with the industry in the state. Rueing the implementation of the surcharge, industrialists are demanding for some flexibility, given the fact that the monsoons are on time.
“In case the rains are good and the demand for power comes down for paddy, the industry should be exempt from the surcharge,” says a Mohali-based industrialist, adding that a lowering of global demand for industrial goods has put the sector on the brink of a recession. “Withdrawing the surcharge in low power demand times in the agriculture sector would give us a breather,” he adds.
While there have been no unscheduled power cuts until now, says Upkar Singh, president of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, the additional surcharge will hit some manufacturing units harder, such as the steel rolling mills and furnaces, he says.
Mandi Gobindgarh Furnace Association’s president Mahinder Pal Gupta points out that since most mills run for 24 hours a day, the levying of increased surcharge has translated into an increase in power tariff of 40 paise per unit per day, thereby adversely affecting input costs and profitability margins.
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