The Hindu Business Line : Minister rules out unbundling of KSEB

Speaking at a seminar organised here by the KSEB and the Press Club, the Minister said that the unbundling option exercised by other States had only bequeathed huge losses to the respective boards.

Unbundling is not a workable proposition in small States such as Kerala. Privatisation of the generation, transmission and distribution businesses will largely militate against the larger interests of the State. The board needs to be retained in the public sector at all costs, the Minister said.

Efficient management of its finances had enabled the KSEB to bring down the level of revenue deficit from Rs 1,286 crore in 2001 to Rs 342 crore as per latest estimates. If this trend were to hold, the board will have managed to turn the corner and even register a profit by the next financial year.

The Minister also announced that Kerala had prominently figured in the rating of State undertakings with respect to reforms undertaken.

Various schemes implemented by the board with a view to pruning transmission-distribution losses had returned encouraging results. It is hoped that the extension of these schemes to the village level would lead to further financial gains. The drive against pilferage has been intensified in recent times.

There has also been an appreciable rise in the number of electricity connections granted over the past one year period, the Minister said. Efforts to reach electricity to Mangulam, the last outpost, are progressing. Seventy-eight new substations have been commissioned since the Government took over, and this will be raised to 100 during the rest of its term.

Despite their obvious environmental implications, hydroelectric projects served the best interests of the State and its power needs, the Minister said. They are also able to take care of drinking water and irrigation requirements of the people. The undue dependence on costly options of thermal power and LNG are best avoided.

The State also needed to seriously look at exhausting the options presented by non-conventional energy sources, the Minister added. The KSEB Chairman, Mr T. M. Manoharan, was also present.