Penance lacks compared to the very similar spell Holy Shock.
Holy Shock at highest rank:
Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 1296 to 1402 Holy damage to an enemy, or 2401 to 2599 healing to an ally.
18% of base mana, 20/40 yd range, Instant cast, 6 sec cooldown.
compared to Penance at highest rank:
Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing 288 Holy damage to an enemy, or 1484 to 1676 healing to an ally every 1 sec for 2 sec.
16% of base mana, 30/40 yd range, Channeled, 10 sec cooldown
Penance is a 51 point talent as well. The damage utility is useless for how little it does. Using penance as a damage ability leaves you open to interruptions very often, hindering your whole holy arsenal of spells. Holy Shock on the other hand is instant and almost half the cd. The damage should be increased or removed altogether to make penance self castable. Why should 31 point talent on a Holy Pally be superior to the 51 point talent in Disc?