Thursday, December 11, 2025

Punjab

No tariff hike expected  next year -   Power theft, Govt Department pending bills, delayed subsidy  a worry for PSPCL

VINOD GUPTA | December 11, 2025 09:53 PM

CHANDIGARH: PSPCL filed their petitions with PSERC for Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) for 2026-27  in the last week of November.  As per submissions, during 2026-27 there will be a token deficit of Rs. 1713 crore after accounting for previous years deficit. As PSERC will curtail some expenditures from the ARR there may not be any tariff increase in the next financial year.

The  revenue requirement of Rs. 52385 crores and with the existing  tariff the income is 53850 crores implying surplus of Rs.1485 crores. Last year the regulatory commission had approved a revenue requirement of Rs.44395 crores and PSPCL has now submitted a true up of Rs.47707 crores mainly due to increase of fuel cost from Rs.3155 crores to Rs.3489 crores due to increased power supply from state thermal plants.

The major component of ARR is  projected power  purchase for Rs.34081 crores , last year approved power purchase cost was 29605 crores which has now been true-up to 29607 crores due to floods last year. The projected increase in power purchase has been more than RS.4400 crores.

 The employee's cost has been projected as 7881 crores, an increase of 800 crores over last year's true-up of 7071 crores.

PSPCL has worked out the total Power Subsidy is estimated at Rs. 22, 250 crores  Cr. out of which Rs. 11249 crores . are for the agriculture sector, 8253 crores for the domestic sector , and domestic consumers on account of free 300 units per month, Rs. 2747 crores . for the industrial sector  based on existing tariffs and projected consumptions.

The pending defaulting amount from government departments, power theft and delayed payment of subsidy are a serious matter and may dent PSPCL’s financial position.

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