Ludhiana, Feb 21 (KNN) The Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations (FOPSIA) raised several issues pertaining to power related matters in a meeting with Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) held under the chairmanship of Kusumjit Sidhu.

In a meeting, FOPSIA said “The fixed charges should not be enhanced as these are paid by consumers. In case of any enhancement, the PSERC should raise the consumption charges as these are subsidized by the government at Rs 5per unit.”

Besides, it said that the cross subsidy on power to subsidies the agriculture must be stopped in upcoming tariff.

On revenue gap, the association said that the revenue gap (loss) of Rs 12,195 crore till last year proves the inefficiency of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

Industry is forced to pay interest on these losses as the PSPCL takes loans to repay them, said Badish Jindal, President of FOPSIA.

He requested PSERC to take strict action against the PSPCL as industry is under big recession and cannot bear any extra burden of hiked power tariff.

PSERC must take the decision on tariff by March 3, 2019 and no retrospective rate should be charged from consumers in case of delay, he added.

The industry representatives also said the power tariff under two-part tariff is high for sick units consuming less power and so there should be maximum overall rate for such units. (KNN/YV)