PMC pays lakhs for power it doesn't use

Subscribes to high-tension electricity plans for sewage treatment plants and pumping stations, uses less than half of what it's entitled to consume

Subscribes to high-tension electricity plans for sewage treatment plants and pumping stations, uses less than half of what it's entitled to consume

Why would you subscribe to an electricity plan which supplies you massive power, costs you a bomb and then use less than half of what is to be supplied to you, eventually wasting lakhs of rupees every month? If you are the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), it is just about possible. The civic body has subscribed to high-tension tariff plan for its various Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) and water pumping stations in various parts of the city, and this is exactly what is happening there.

MiD DAY got hold of an internal document of the PMC that compiles the billing details of STPs and pumping stations and found that though the PMC has contracted a supply of 1,000 Kilo Watts (KW) for its STP and pumping stations, it uses only half of it in most cases. And as per the rules of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), it still has to pay for at least half the contracted power supplied.
To put it simply, if the agreed supply is 1,000 KW, and the usage is 300 KW, the user will have to pay tariff charges for at least 500 KW. The MSEDCL charges Rs 150 per KW.

A careful scrutiny of the documents revealed that in most cases, the consumption was less than half the contracted power supply and so, the PMC was incurring unnecessary expenditure. The PMC has eight STPs in various places namely, Baner, Bopodi, Tanajiwadi, Erandwane, Old and New Naidu (Pune Station area), and Old and New Bhairoba (Kalyaninagar) and finally Mundhwa. About 15,000 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage water is treated at the STPs everyday.

Money down the drain
To illustrate one such case, we take a look at the Baner STP's billing for March 1, 2011, which was Rs 5.29 lakh. The contract with MSEDCL is for 900 KW and the actual usage is just 325 KW, which means, the user has to pay for at least 450 KW. Here, the PMC paid an additional amount of Rs 18,750. So was the case in other STPs as well. MiD DAY has a copy of one such bill (April 2011) of the New Bhairoba STP at Kalyaninagar, where the contract is for 1,900 KW and the total consumption is 350 KW.

The Other Side
Pramod Nirbhavne, superintending engineer, water supply and drainage, said certain machines required high-tension power initially to start running. "There is no question of money being wasted. Sometimes the amount of water flowing into the sewage treatment plants increases during peak hours, which is when higher power is required," he said.

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