Jamshedpur, Dec. 20: Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, has proposed huge capital expenditure to augment its existing infrastructure and extend its facilities to the fringe areas of the steel city.

The proposal was made during a public hearing of power tariff petition for 2009-10 of Tata Steel (for Jamshedpur licence area, which is operated by Jusco) at Nirmal Bhavan here today. Senior officials of Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JSERC) were present at the public hearing.

During the presentation, Jusco general manager (power services division) Sharad Kumar said the company was planning to undertake capital expenditure to the tune of Rs 179 crore. Some of the planned expenditures have been phased for the next five years.

The company plans to invest Rs 80 crore by 2013 for creation of distribution networks in fringe areas of the city like Bhatia Bustee, Uliyan, Shastrinagar, Chhota Govindpur, Govindpur and Birsanagar. At present, Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) is providing power to these areas.

“We have made provisions for creation of new distribution network in these areas in view of demand for our quality power supply from consumers,” said a company official.

He said a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the state electricity board would be required to provide electricity to consumers in fringe areas of the city.

All the proposals will be enforced after a green signal from the JSERC.

Besides, Jusco will invest Rs 16 crore to augment power supply in Bistupur and Marine Drive areas to meet the high demand. The company will create a 33/6.6KV sub-station and related network inter-connection.

“The augmentation has been proposed as a number of shopping malls and commercial complexes are coming up in the area. Around eight to 10 such complexes are coming up along the Marine Drive while two-three will be developed at Bistupur, leading to increase in demand for electricity,” said Kumar.

JSERC chairman Mukhtiyar Singh, who was present at the public hearing, applauded the company’s capital expenditure plan.

“It is good to see that the company has planned its infrastructure requirements in advance. Planners must think and prepare in such a way that a proposal is viable for another 40-50 years,” said Singh.

He also advised that the company create facilities for better customer service as far as billing was concerned. Jusco assured that before the next hearing, it would look into the suggestion.

Residents present at the event suggested that Jusco strengthen their billing system, introduce online billing, provide cheque drop-box facility and ensure hassle-free system to get NOCs for customers wanting to shift from JSEB to Jusco and vice-versa.

Meanwhile, in its new tariff proposal, the service provider plans to increase the existing power rates by Rs 0.36 per unit for domestic, Rs 0.26 per unit for domestic HT and Rs 0.40 per unit for commercial consumers.

The tariff has been increased to meet annual revenue target of around Rs 497 crore for the fiscal 2009-10.