Post of PSERC member vacant for 9 months

Aman Sood

Patiala, January 29

The post of a technical member for the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has been lying vacant since May last year. The government had initiated the selection process but no headway has been made despite a couple of months left before the power regulator will determine the power tariff for 2023-24.

The PSERC is a three-member body with one chairman and two members. “There is no technical member to deal with various technical issues and tariff-related petitions. In absence of technical members all issues are decided by the chairman, who is a retired bureaucrat,” said All-India Power Engineers Federation spokesperson VK Gupta. “The state has adopted an indifferent attitude in filling the post,” he added.

The government had issued an advertisement in May for the post with the last date of application as May 30, 2022.

The three-member selection committee comprises a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Chief Secretary, Punjab, and Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission as members.

“The post will be filled soon”, said a top government official. “We are in the middle of filling this post and also that of the CMD, PSPCL, on a regular basis”, added the officer.

Meanwhile the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022, which is yet to be passed by Parliament, has now proposed one chairman and three other members for the state electricity regulatory commission.

The PSEB Engineers’ Association general secretary Ajay Pal Singh Atwal wrote in a letter to the government, “If these posts are kept vacant, the upcoming paddy season will be challenging for the power sector and consumers will face power interruptions.”