Outstanding payments of Punjab authorities places of work for the state energy utility – Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) – elevated greater than 4 occasions to Rs 2,183.49 crore (11,855) from Rs 524.78 crore (6,204 places of work) in March 2016 underneath the SAD-BJP regime are gone. Office) underneath Congress rule in 2019-20.
A efficiency audit of the Corporation revealed that the share of Government places of work within the complete default quantity has elevated from 48.43 per cent to 53.11 per cent.
PSPCL additionally did not get well the dues from its workers. The variety of workers who defaulted on invoice funds virtually doubled from 632 in 2015-16 to 1,240 in 2019-20.
The penal motion of disconnecting the ability provide of presidency places of work which defaulted in cost of payments was negligible. The proportion of disconnects ranged from 1.25 per cent in 2018-19 to 1.89 per cent in 2018-19.
The efficiency audit has been performed between August 2020 to January 2021 and covers the efficiency of PSPCL earlier than and after the implementation of UDAY scheme in the course of the interval 2015-16 to 2019-20.
Audit noticed that the border zone of PSPCL didn’t make a single disconnection in Government places of work for default in invoice cost, whereas the western zone minimize the connections starting from 48 per cent to 65 per cent in the course of the interval 2015-16. 2017-18 and 2019-20. The motion taken by the remaining three zones was additionally insufficient as the proportion of disconnection throughout 2015-16 to 2019-20 ranged from 0.58 per cent to 11.38 per cent.
In May 2015, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) had requested energy utilities to discover the potential for putting in pay as you go meters on connections being issued to authorities departments. The regulatory physique had cited the success story of Manipur, which had yielded good outcomes after the set up of pay as you go meters. It had requested PSPCL in July 2016 to arrange a roadmap for set up of pay as you go meters inside a month.
However, audit noticed that even after a lapse of 5 years, PSPCL failed to put in pay as you go meters for the connection of the Government Department. Audit noticed that the ability utility was not taking mandatory steps to rectify the restoration of defaulted quantity.
Meanwhile, the audit has additionally revealed that the variety of PSPCL’s personal workers who’ve defaulted in invoice funds has virtually doubled between 2015-16 and 2019-20 from 632 to 1240 and the default quantity is from Rs. has elevated. 76 crores to 4.66 crores.
Audit noticed that PSPCL didn’t preserve any report of the electrical energy connections issued to the Government servants. In absence of data, restoration of default quantity towards such workers couldn’t be finished.
PSPCL’s chairman-cum-managing director, A Venu Prasad, was not obtainable for feedback and didn’t reply to a textual content message.
Surrender of electrical energy and cost of mounted capability costs
Audit revealed that PSPCL had contracted full put in capability with personal energy vegetation on the idea of peak demand with out taking into consideration the seasonal load sample. This resulted in surplus energy with PSPCL, which needed to be surrendered to non-public energy vegetation with cost of mounted capability costs of Rs 6210.63 crore between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
The paddy season in Punjab in the course of the 4 months of June, July, August and September is in excessive demand as in comparison with different months of the 12 months. It was noticed in audit that the Planning Wing of PSPCL began conducting and conducting month-wise energy and power availability estimation vis-a-vis requirement situation solely in February 2011, when Long Term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for your entire put in capability have been entered into by personal energy vegetation. The producers have already been contracted.
Out of the whole energy surrendered over the past 5 years, the share of three personal energy producers – Nabha Power Limited, Talwandi Sabo Private Limited and GVK Power Limited ranged from 50.74 % in 2017-18 to 71.92 % in 2019-20.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
