Following the decline in the ranking of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), the state has accused the Center of bias. In the recent 12th National Annual Report PSPCL has slipped to 'B' grade and is now at 20th position. According to a report, last year it was ranked 16th with 'A' grade. Its score has decreased from 83.8 last year to 61.6 this year.
Issues were ignored
Punjab has also claimed that important issues raised by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) with the Central government before the ranking were not considered and some were completely ignored.
Of the 53 distribution companies, 12 got 'A+' rating, including Gujarat and Haryana. State facilities of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are in 'A' category. Seven companies including PSPCL along with one private company have got 'B' grade.
A senior official of PSPCL said that they have already raised objections and brought it to the notice of the Central government and asked them to reconsider their decision of giving 61.1 marks out of 100.
According to the information, it has been said in the letter sent to the Central Government that according to the rating, three full marks are given by the state government if it incurs a loss in a year.PSPCL has been given zero marks due to losses of Rs 4,776 crore during 2022-23. However, the state government has honored the commitments by bearing the deficit till 2022-23 and thus should be awarded three points.
Along with this, one more point was deducted for issuing tariff orders in 2023.Senior officials of PSPCL said due to the operation of Pachwara coal mine, not using imported coal and increase in tariff from PSPCL after three years, the financial parameters of PSPCL improved during 2023-24 and It has recorded a profit of Rs 771 crore.