Currency ban boosts power department’s revenue

Kolkata: While chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been on a war path against the Centre over demonetisation, the cancellation of legal tender of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes appears to have benefitted her government’s power department in terms of revenue generation.

State power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay on Tuesday said that the collection by the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL), the state-run power distribution company, for the month of November this year surpassed the amount of the corresponding month last year by over Rs 230 crore.

A data on WBSEDCL Collection Comparative Figure, provided by Mr Chatterjee showed that the earning of the month of November, 2015, which stands at Rs 1388.9 crore, rose by 16.82 per cent to Rs 1622.48 crore in the November this year. The earning thus grew by Rs 233.58 crore.

The state power minister however attributed the growth to the demonetization. “In wake of demonetization many consumers who had outstanding electricity bills cleared their due amounts at one go in November through lumpsum payments which mostly included old notes. Besides new consumers also paid for their connections in old notes,” he explained.

Mr Chattopadhyay elaborated that the change in power tariff of the WBSEDCL also helped in the revenue growth. According to the data, the earning of November this year was the highest among the months since August when the figure stood at Rs 1596.5 crore which was 10.53 per cent higher than the earning of August, 2015: Rs 1444.37 crore.

In September the collection witnessed a minor decrease to Rs 1583.88 crore which was however 11.58 per cent higher than Rs 1419.53 crore of the last year’s corresponding month. In October the collection further dipped to Rs 1491.66 crore but was still higher than Rs 1388.9 crore recorded in October, 2015 by 5.94 per cent.