The BHEL Medium and Small Scale Industries Association (BHELSSIA), representing about 400 member units engaged in fabrication of boilers and boiler components in and around Tiruchi, has appealed to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission to waive the 15 per cent surcharge imposed on the units for the energy consumed by them.
In a representation to the Commission, Rajappa Rajkumar, president, BHELSSIA, said that initially the member units were using welding transformers and rectifiers that had very poor power factor. Then the units were unable to maintain the required power factor of 0.85. Due to this there were some strain in the power transformer installed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and to compensate for the same, additional surcharge of 15 per cent on the energy consumed was charged.
But from 2005 onwards, all BHELSSIA units have replaced the welding transformer and rectifiers and installed latest technology invertors, through which they were able to maintain a power factor 0.85.
Now electronic meters have been installed in all the units and penalty is being levied on units with a power factor less than 0.85 for LT connections and less than 0.95 in case of HT connections.
