CHANDIGARH : In June this year, Baldev Singh Sran took charge as the chairman-cummanaging director of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). It was for the first time that the Punjab government had conducted interviews for the post of the CMD, PSPCL. HT spoke to him on his initiatives and his take on crucial issues confronting the sector. Excerpts:
How has your elevation to the PSPCL CMD’s post helped the utility?
A After I took charge, the corporation decided not to go for rash short-term purchase of power. We have managed our system well. Even during peak demand, we were building a power bank and supplying power to neighbouring states, which we would get back when in need. We have built a bank of 2,000 megawatt (MW) despite the fact that we have suffered a cut of 800 MW of power after the closure of the Bathinda thermal plant and some units of the Ropar plant. We purchased power on short-term basis only for four days. In previous years, the corporation used to purchase power on all days. Last year, the PSPCL spent ?615 crore on shortterm purchase. This time, this expense is negligible, which makes a difference.
Power tariff has touched ?10 per unit, any chance of it coming down?
A The base rate of power that is loaded into the system is ?6.35. The excise duty, the other levies and the taxes that the state government and municipal bodies impose make power costly. If we manage to cut expenses on power purchase, it would reflect on the tariff, but a promise cannot be made at this stage.
For years now, the PSPCL has been counting transmission and distribution losses into agriculture consumption for which the government pays up. How will you streamline this?
A There are meters on all 11,000 agriculture feeders. I will make sure that the reading on all the meters is taken in the right spirit and not fudged.
PSPCL’s mine in Pachwara (Jharkhand) is shut since 2015, what is the scope of its reopening?
A We hope to make it operational in six months as we have appointed a mine developer. Once the mine is operational, we will save ?752 crore as it will give us 70 lakh tonne coal a year, at a rate that is ?1,050 per tonne cheaper than what we are getting now.
What will you do with this coal, if plants are shut? The closure of the Bathinda thermal plant has already led to a major fall in demand.
A Our current demand for coal is 95 lakh tonne a year. Even if we shutdown the Ropar thermal plant, the demand will stay. If we do have surplus coal, we will find a way out then.
Any scope to rework power purchase agreements with privatelyowned thermal plants, as the Congress government had promised, claiming that these were done arbitrarily?
A The issue pertains to the government. I would like the government to make a comment.
Payment of subsidy for free power to agriculture tubewells from the govt to the PSPCL has been an issue?
A We have been getting subsidy during the past two months, still there is a back log of ?2,260 crore. Our concern is that this must not pile-up again by the year-end. This issue of subsidy delivery needs improvement, so that the functioning of the PSPCL does not suffer.
The Punjab government has announced power for the industrial sector at ?5 a unit. The industry claims that the benefit is not forthcoming. Your views.
A The state government has set aside ?1,400 crore to support the industry with their promise. We have subsidised variable cost to ?5 a unit and the fixed cost is separate. A section of industry that consumes power during the night will get more benefit by receiving power at ?4.28 a unit, even lower than the promise.