Vidyut Bhavan, Patna

Patna, June 2: The funds-starved state power board has been given the liberty to charge a premium if they can ensure round-the-clock quality supply, but electricity mandarins are in no hurry to avail of this opportunity that would have allowed them to generate more revenue.

The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (Berc), while approving a 19 per cent increase in tariff yesterday, allowed the board to levy a 10 per cent premium over and above the electricity bill if it can ensure uninterrupted quality power supply to consumers.

Energy minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav today said efforts were being made to ensure uninterrupted power supply to Patna residents. But he remained non-committal on whether the department had any plans to avail the opportunity to generate greater revenue by providing 24-hour quality service.

“I have not gone through the Berc order,” Yadav said at a news meet.

Even Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) chairman Prabhat Kumar Rai chose to be evasive while fielding a similar poser. “I am still waiting for the tariff order,” he said. “Without understanding the nuances of the order, it would not be appropriate to comment on the issue.”

The reluctance of the minister and the board chairman to spell out their stand can be attributed to the Berc order. The commission has laid down several points that would require meticulous planning on part of the board as well as an efficient surveillance system for charging the premium from customers.

While ensuring uninterrupted power supply in a state like Bihar, which has at its disposal less than 50 per cent of its daily quota of electricity on an average, would be a big challenge, the point related to quality supply would be a bigger ask.

Sources in Berc said quality power supply means freedom from low voltage problems and also from fluctuations.

“BSEB would need to overhaul the entire system for ensuring such things as there are several other aspects which it would have to address before fancying its chances of taking out more money from the pockets of consumers in the name of uninterrupted and quality power supply,” a BSEB source, preferring anonymity, told The Telegraph.

Elaborating, he said while the supply lines are in a shambles, the board also cannot rely on its overloaded grids and transformers.

As things stand now, added the source, barring a few VIP areas, there is hardly a locality in the capital where power cuts and voltage fluctuations do not take place due to local faults. “The situation is worse in the districts,” added the source.

A top source in the energy department echoed the observation of the board official. “Those knowing the ins-and-outs of the BSEB know it fully well that charging a premium in the name of uninterrupted and quality power supply would remain a dream, at least for the next five years,” said the official.

“The Berc order also talks of notifying the area where such service would be given. Hence bosses in the BSEB would think twice before thinking in terms of imposing the premium,” the official added.

The Bihar government has made power a priority area with the Nabinagar plant in Aurangabad at its centrepiece.