Not to speak of outsiders like media and civil society leadership, even State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) has expressed its unhappiness with the inefficiency of Power Development Department. SERC has been concerned with faulty and erratic functioning of PDD. Its Tariff Order for the financial year 2008-09 had concentrated on actions designed to bring financial independence to PDD by improving revenue generation in accordance with a variety of suggestions put forth by the Commission. As everybody knows there continues to be a big gap between revenue and expenditure in PDD resulting in the State spending huge amount annually on purchase of power from other states. Our big losses are in Transmission and Distribution sector. The SERC had suggested many reforms in T&D sector but it regrets that most of those reforms have not been implemented by the PDD. There appears to be fundamental variation in the perception of SERC and the PDD, all to the dismay and distress to ordinary consumers of electric power. Tariff regime proposed by PDD for the financial year 2013-14, is at variance with the one suggested by PDD. In some sectors, the Commission has reduced percentage of tariff while it has been increased in other sectors. The Commission does not mince words in saying that its expectation of PDD improving performance and additional resources generation based on tariff structure and rate changes allowed by the Commission have not come true. Several directives issued in tariff orders remained ineffective. Contrary to all this efficiency levels have deteriorated and the revenue gap has alarmingly increased over the years, the Commission observes.
Commission’s tariff report for 2013-14, when examined in its totality, is indicative of inefficiency and incompetence ruling the roost in PDD. Surprisingly, the Commission has observed that the actual losses on account of transmission and distribution are higher than those proposed by the PDD itself in previous tariff orders. The Commission observes that it is a matter of regret that the level of T&D losses in the State is the highest in the country. The question is why is there such a gap in the perceptions of two organizations dealing with one service of supply of electric power for public consumption? For example, the SERC has ordered average 8.5 % increase in the power tariff for the current financial year against 13.53 % hike proposed by the PDD. However, the Commission has put additional burden on several other categories where hike is ranging between 2 and 15% which is much more in comparison to the power tariff of 2011-12. PDD has proposed 10 % hike in category which the Commission has reduced to 8 per cent. The difference in perceptions is that the PDD believes that the objective of revenue generation can be achieved by raising tariff in domestic category. But the Commission contradicts it and has retained only 8 per cent hike in that category. Again while the PDD had proposed 9 % hike in non-domestic category, the Commission has gone beyond and ordered 12 % hike for the same category.
SERC’s Retail Tariff Order for Financial Year 2013-14 somehow strengthens the belief of ordinary consumer that there is lack of rationalization of tariff at the higher levels in the Power Supply Department that adversely affects him. The Government should step in to remove the impression from the mind of ordinary consumers that justice is not being done to them. In these columns we have repeatedly recommended drastic overhauling of the PDD that has been accused of inefficiency but also of mismanagement. The Government has received many a brickbat on account of its failed power supply policy. This sordid situation should come to an end now. We don’t think that the situation is beyond retrieval. There are vested interests here and there, and there are bottlenecks as well. State Government needs to study how power supply service is efficiently handled in other states of the country and it should be possible to emulate the example. If politics comes in to play a role in all sectors of power from selecting a site for generating hydroelectric power to revenue collection, then we shall never have efficient, regular and uninterrupted power supply system. PDD will never be able to make any improvement and the result will be that people will continue to suffer on account of insensitivity of the ruling class…
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