Chandigarh, March 7 -- The power tariff cuts will help the Punjab government reduce its subsidy bill by a whopping Rs.5,300 crore, easing the pressure on the state exchequer. The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) determined a cumulative revenue surplus of Rs.7851.91 crore, accepting the PSPCL's claim of achieving a Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses target of 10% for FY 2026-27 against 12.75% submitted earlier by PSPCL in its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and 11.80% approved by commission itself in order dated December 11, last year. The commission approved an annual loss reduction target of just 0.20% for PSPCL and accepted PSPCL's revised loss target of 10% just to reduce the power purchase cost, resulting in a reduction in the power subsidy bill. The commission determined the total shortfall of subsidy payment by the Punjab government Rs.11,109.70 crore up to March 31,2025. For FY 2026-27, the commission estimated subsidy payable by the state government to PSPCL as Rs.15200.55 crore, a dip of almost Rs.5300 crore. To achieve this reduction in subsidy, the surplus of Rs.7,852 crore has been unevenly distributed amongst various consumer categories to give more relief to subsidised categories. The average cost of supply has reduced from Rs.7.15 to Rs.6.15 per unit, a reduction of about 14%. For domestic consumers with consumption up to 300 units (covered under 100% subsidy), the tariff has been reduced by about 30%, whereas for consumption above 300 units, the tariff has been reduced by 13%. The tariff of the commercial category, one of the highest, has been reduced by 11%. The tariff of the agriculture category has been reduced by 20%. The tariff of industrial categories has been fixed in such a way that the subsidy burden has reduced from Rs.2,385 crore during FY 2025-26 to Rs.927 crore during FY 2026-27, a reduction of almost 61%. PSPCL received Rs.3,581.95 crore as a grant in the form of loss funding as per the Centre's scheme. The commission accepted PSPCL's suggestion to treat the Rs.3,581.95 crore loss funding as non-tariff income, whereas a similar grant received earlier by PSPCL under the UDAY scheme was not treated as non-tariff income. The power engineer's body had opposed the reduction in the power losses without any supporting data and said that this had been deliberately done to reduce the subsidy burden....