Chandigarh: The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has directed the UT electricity department to conduct an energy audit.
The commission has noted that energy audit report for FY2021-22 has not been submitted by the department. The commission has further observed with serious concern that the department is yet to submit the energy audit reports for previous years too, despite repeated directions.
The commission has directed the department to submit quarterly report of the action plan within one month and complete the annual energy audit of the UT on priority.
The department submitted that according to the tariff order of May 2019, the transmission and distribution (T&D) loss approved for the FY 2021-22 was 9.20% as against the its submission of 12.85%.
Further, vide order dated March 30, 2021, the commission had approved the T&D loss of 9.20% against the revised loss levels of 11.80% as submitted by he department. “While the department is dedicated for reducing the intra-state T&D losses in the UT of Chandigarh, there are constraints in reducing the T&D loss. In addition to the issue of higher LT sales, another important factor is the absence of interconnection point within the UT boundary, which has also been submitted to the commission in its past submissions,” stated the department in its multi-year tariff plan.
The energy input at the department’s periphery is currently being metered at 400KV Nalagarh, 220KV Mohali and 220KV Dhoolkot (BBMB) which has resulted in higher T&D losses for the department.
“The department has to bear around 3% additional losses of interstate circuit due to not having any interstate point in its boundary. In this regard, the department has submitted that construction of a 220/66 KV substation at Hallo Majra is under progress by M/s PGCIL. This substation will cater to the future load growth of Chandigarh resulting in lower losses due to commissioning of an interconnection point within the UT periphery,” the department stated in MYT petition.
Source: PTI
