E-Paper
Chandigarh electricity department stares at ₹137-crore loss
With the UT electricity department failing to deposit its audit certificate to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for the year 2021-22 and the subsequent rejection of the proposed 10% hike for 2023-24, the department finds itself staring at a loss of nearly ₹137 crore.
With the UT electricity department failing to deposit its audit certificate to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for the year 2021-22 and the subsequent rejection of the proposed 10% hike for 2023-24, the department finds itself staring at a loss of nearly ₹137 crore.
In 2021-23, the department spent ₹835 crore against a revenue of ₹698 crore, amounting to the deficit.
A senior official of UT administration said, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s office is alleging financial irregularities — to the tune of ₹60 crore, in view of which, the audit certificate was not issued for the year 2021-22.
Notably, the certificate is sent to JERC, which further allows the department to recover the deficit from the consumers. But, in the absence of the certificate, the commission has rejected the 10 % hike proposed by the department,
As per the official, the department had submitted that the proposed tariff revision would help meet the much-needed revenue requirement for the ensuing year, but the same was rejected.
As per the record, there are nearly 2.47 lakh power consumers in Chandigarh. Of these, 2.14 lakh, or roughly 87%, are domestic consumers.
Last month, the CAG’s office had written a letter to UT adviser, chief engineer, and JERC, alleging financial irregularity of ₹60 crore in the electricity department balance sheet. It has since launched a special audit of the department for the five years, with 2020-21 serving as the base year.
Addressing the issue, UT chief engineer CB Ojha said following the CAG’s finding, it was sound that the ₹60 crore irregularity was nothing, but a double entry and has since been rectified. “Now, since they have already begun the special audit, a report will be submitted soon”, he said.
Power demand up to 300 MW
The Power demand in the city in May reached 300 megawatt (MW), up from April’s figure of 230 MW. The power ministry had already decided to increase the unallocated power quota for Chandigarh by 14% from April to September this year.
To meet the needs of around 2.35 lakh consumers in the city, Chandigarh currently gets 345 MW of power. Following the Union ministry’s latest decision, it will get 545 MW.
The UT had requested the ministry to increase the quota after a study on power consumption, which showed that the demand stands at 280 MW around 10 am in summer months, goes up to 390 MW to 410 MW between 2 pm to 5 pm.
UT’s power sources
UT administration gets 220 MW of power from different sources — 47% from Mohali (PSPCL), 5% from Dhulkote (Bhakra Beas Management Board), and the remaining 48% from Nalagarh. The power first comes to the 220 kV substation at Kishangarh and Mohali. From there, it is then passed to 66kV substations, then to 11kV substations, followed by transformers and ultimately to houses.
