Punjab has alleged bias by the Centre after the recent drop in Punjab State Power Corporation Limited’s (PSPCL) position in the 12th national annual ranking report. The utility has slipped to B grade and is now positioned at 20th rank. Last year its ranking was at 16th with an A grade. Its marks went down from 83.8 it got last year to 61.6 this year.

Punjab has also claimed that the key issues raised by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) with the Union Government ahead of the ranking were not considered and some were completely ignored.

“The downranking of the PSPCL is driven by 61 paisa increase in power purchase cost, 11 paisa increase in other costs (mainly employee costs) and 14 paisa decline in revenues,” says All-India Power Engineers Federation spokesperson VK Gupta.

“The PSERC allows auto pass-through of fuel costs, but the PSPCL did not file for any increase in tariff to compensate power purchase cost. The report suggests that the PSPCL should reduce short-term borrowings next year,” added Gupta. “Also, the PSPCL raised some objections to the scoring pattern which was rejected,” he said.

Twelve of the 53 distribution companies received an ‘A+’ rating, including Gujarat and Haryana. State utilities of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh are in the ‘A’ category. Seven companies, including the PSPCL, got a ‘B’ grade along with a private company.

Reacting to the developments, a senior PSPCL official said they had already apprised the Union Government by raising objections and had urged them to review their decision of giving 61.1 marks out of 100. “As per rating, three full marks are awarded for loss takeover by the state government in a year. The PSPCL has been awarded zero marks in this due to a loss of Rs 4,776 crore during 2022-23. However, the state government honored commitments by taking losses up to 2022-23, and thus three marks should be assigned,” reads a letter sent to the Union Government, a copy of which is with The Tribune. Another mark was deducted for the issuance of a tariff order in 2023.

PSPCL top officials said, “Due to operationalization of Pachhwara coal mine, non-use of imported coal and increase in tariff by the PSERC after three years, the PSPCL financial parameters during 2023-24 have improved and it registered a profit of Rs 771 crore till December 2023 as against a loss of Rs 2,077 crore up to December 2022,” he added.