The Punjab government and the Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers’ Association are involved in a tussle over unbundling of the electricity board, with the state government seeking a record 11th extension and engineers challenging the rationale behind the move.

President of the PSEB Engineers’ Association HS Bedi told FE that it was ironic that the state government was going all out for unbundling of the board even when except for Andhra Pradesh, all unbundled power boards in other states are operating with heavy losses.

Bedi said the deterioration in performance of most of the boards that had unbundled under the provisions of the Central Electricity Act, 2003, including neighbouring Haryana, has been documented in a study carried out by the Indian Institute of Public Administration.

Enquiries reveal that the present extension granted by the Centre to Punjab for unbundling of PSEB under the Electricity Act expired on June 15, making PSEB “an entry without legal status”. No wonder chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who called on power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, sought yet another extension of six months for the board’s unbundling.

After coming to power, Badal had sought an extension of six months from the Centre to initiate power reforms in the state. In December 2007, the Punjab government sought another extension of six months and the Centre obliged yet again by giving an extension till February, 2008. Then it sought another six months? extension till August 2008. Subsequently, the state government sought another six months? extension but the Centre agreed for an extension till

November 2008. In December 2008, Punjab got another extension till June 15, 2009.

As many as 18 states have already unbundled their electricity boards and formed different companies as part of reforms to look after generation, transmission and distribution. However, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and some North-East states have been on an extension-seeking mode.

Padamjit Singh, patron of PSEB Engineers’ Association, said it was surprising that the government was insisting on unbundling not realising that PSEB has been one of the best managed boards in the country.

Punjab and Tamil Nadu are the only states where transmission losses are below 20% and both states have their state electricity boards in integrated form. On the other hand, most states having unbundled power companies have losses in the range of 30 to 40%, with Orissa still having losses above 40%.