Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has filed a fresh Net Revenue Requirement (NRR) of Rs 51,106 crore before the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), which is Rs 1,304 crore less than what the power company had demanded when they filed the original NRR for the next fiscal in November 2025.The reduction in the revenue requirement of the power utility means that there would be no need for increasing the power tariff for 2026-27. Being an election year — Vidhan Sabha elections are less than a year away now — no increase in power tariff is expected to give some brownie points to the Aam Aadmi Party government.According to the new submission, the total deficit in expenditure and revenue would now be Rs 454 crore. In November, when the original NRR was filed, the deficit was projected at Rs 1,758 crore.This is one of the rare instances where the NRR has been filed for the second time. The first NRR was filed by the state power utility in November 2025, which is the normal time for filing the ARR. Public hearings and all stakeholders consultations, based on the original net revenue of Rs 52,410 crore, have already been held.However, questions are being raised about the reduction in revenue requirement. This time, the state power company has filed a multi-year tariff petition giving the business plan of three years — 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29. While the revenue requirement in this election year has been reduced by Rs 1,304 crore, for the next two years, the cumulative reduction has been Rs 900 crore.Technocrats in the state power utility have raised objections with the directors of the PSPCL about lowering the distribution losses — from 12.75 per cent in 2025-26 to just 10 per cent in 2026-27 — which they say is unattainable.“Never have distribution losses been reduced so drastically. It has been done on paper to lower the revenue requirement. Also, they are including the loss funding given by the central government in the non-tariff income. If it’s included as income, the very purpose of getting loss funding gets defeated,” said Ajay Pal Singh Atwal, general secretary of the PSEB Engineers Association.Official sources in the power sector have told The Tribune that since public hearings have already been conducted by the PSERC, and since this is an Additional Submission, there is no need for a new round of public hearings. “The new submission has been placed in public domain, and people can submit their objections to the power regulator, if any, in the next 15 days. The Commission will be ready with the new power tariff order before March, and the order will be announced in March itself,” said the officer.