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Finally, PSEB to be unbundled this month Chandigarh, April 3 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today presided over a high-level meeting, which was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, senior civil and police officials and officers from the PSEB, to review the state’s preparedness for the unbundling exercise. Ways to tackle strikes, including those that may be led by leftist Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) and other organisations, were discussed. PSEB officials were directed to take the help of the police, wherever necessary, to ensure uninterrupted power supply to consumers post-unbundling. The PSEB has also been directed to come out with a contingency plan in case striking employees try to disrupt the functioning of the board. According to sources, the BJP had earlier discussed the need to restructure the PSEB and gave its nod for the same. They said a general consensus on the issue had also emerged in the SAD. According to sources, as of now, there has been a consensus on creating a separate transmission company and letting generation and distribution remain as one unit. This model is apparently the most acceptable to the PSEB engineers, who do not want creation of three separate units as was proposed earlier. The engineers, who have been taken on board on the issue, have apparently given the go-ahead to the move. However, whether this will help the PSEB get out of the red is debatable. This is because all expert groups have recommended trifurcation of the board. The cumulative losses of the PSEB are likely to cross Rs 10,000 crore by March this year and experts feel only complete corporatisation of the board, rather than half measures, can help it out move out of the red.Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said the BJP core committee gave its go-ahead for the unbundling exercise recently. He claimed there were successful models like Gujarat where the electricity supply position had improved manifold after unbundling. He said unbundling would open up avenues for revaluation of the PSEB properties and make it easier for the new utilities to secure loans. The SAD-BJP government has been dithering on the unbundling of the board for the past three years and has taken repeated extensions from the Union Power Ministry to put off the mandatory exercise under the Electricity Act, 2003. Why unbundling? Unbundling or restructuring of state electricity utility became necessary after the Electricity Supply Act, 1948, was replaced by the Electricity Act, 2003. The new Act stipulates that the state electricity utilities be converted into company/companies governed under the company law. It also calls for separating trading and transmission utilities. The idea is to create competition among companies. After 2004, it became mandatory to seek extension from the Centre to ward off restructuring of the electricity utilities. Extensions were usually given for six months in the first instance and then for three months at a time. Punjab has time till June 15 to unbundle the PSEB.
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