Powercom gets monetary booster on time from state government to keep its finances intact
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ October 14,2024
Punjab govt has paid Rs 10,851.26 crores as power subsidy to the Punjab state power corporation limited (PSPCL) from April 1,2024 to September 30,2024. Out of these Rs 10,851.26 crores, Rs 5001.05 crores are for AP (agriculture) subsidy, Rs 4483.20 for domestic consumer (DS) subsidy and Rs 1366.99 crores for industry subsidy.
“For 2024-25, the power subsidy payable by the Punjab Government has been assessed at Rs.21910 crores. As per the schedule the powercom has to receive Rs 11,000 in the first two quarters and Rs 10,000 for the next two quarters. Out of Rs 11000 crores, Punjab govt has released 10,851.26 crore which is almost the full amount committed by the state government ” said a senior functionary of the Punjab state power corporation limited (PSPCL) on the condition of anonymity.
As per reports, “2024-25 has been assessed at Rs.46383 crores and powercom annual income at the current rates will be Rs.47940 crores. The main component of ARR is power purchase cost which has been assessed at Rs.30062 crores followed by employees’ expenses of Rs.7281 crores. The transmission charges payable to PSTCL are Rs.1651 crores” said another officer on the condition of anonymity.
In the current fiscal years first four months the state government has released more subsidies viz-a-viz last year during same period. But the next two months, the subsidy amount has shown downwards trend. This year the state govt has paid Rs 1820 crore in the month of April viz-z-viz last year’s Rs 1500 crores in April. Similarly, Rs 2200 crores released this year in the month of May against Rs 2002 crores LY same month, Rs 2109 crores in the month of June this year and 1549 crores in June LY, Rs 2123.06 crores in July this year against 1710.80 crores in July last year, Rs 1499 crores in August this year (TY) viz-z-viz Rs 1960.53 crores in August LY, Rs 1100 crores this September against last year’s September it was Rs 1811.04 crores .
In total, the state government has released Rs 317.89 crores more than the last year as power subsidy to the PSPCL from April to September period.
“In 2022-23, and 2023-24 which was the first two years when the Punjab government had paid the entire subsidy bill of Rs 20,200 crore to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited including the previous pending subsidy amount. The state govt had made five installments of Rs 9020 crore pending subsidy and had paid the first two installments of Rs 1,804 crore each to the powercom. But this year around 1900 crores are kept pending by the state government. As per the payment trend, the state govt seems to clear the clear the power subsidy bill of the fiscal year but may again kept pending the previous year’s pending bill” said a senior functionary of the powercom
Powercom gets monetary booster on time from state government to keep its finances intact. For 2023-24 the state government had almost paid the entire power subsidy of Rs 18,276.74 crores against Rs 18,714 crore.
An officer added that “it’s the AAP government which has kept its promise alive and are clearing the power subsidy bill on monthly basis. Earlier the power subsidy was given to the agriculture sector only. After the Bhagwant Mann led AAP government gave 300 unit per month free power to state residents, irrespective of any caste, creed, religion, category the government has paid the increased amount of subsidy to the powercom. In 2021-22, the subsidy was Rs 10,679 crore, which rose to Rs 15,845 crore in 2022-23 and then Rs 18,714 crore in the next financial year.
As per Punjab government, at present 90 percent of residents registered as domestic consumers are getting zero bill.
