The Hindu Business Line : Power arrears due to KSEB put at Rs 1,671 cr

The Electricity Minister, Mr A.K. Balan, said in reply to questions in the State Assembly on Thursday that the arrears from private parties were to the tune of Rs 663.30 crore, while the Government institutions owed Rs 148.17 crore. Besides, the public sector undertakings had totted up arrears of Rs 838.17 crore.

In reply to a question on complaints regarding cash deposits taken by KSEB from the consumers, the Minister said that this was being done in line with the Supply Code laid down by the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission in 2005.

Cash deposits

He explained that the domestic consumers were paying the bill once in two months. By the time the bill was served on the consumers after taking the meter reading for two months, they would have consumed power for three months without paying any amount. This was why cash deposit equivalent to three months’ consumption was being taken from the domestic consumers.

In the case of those paying bill every month, the cash deposit was equivalent to two months’ consumption. This apart, additional cash deposit was also taken from a consumer when his power consumption went up or when there was an increase in the tariff. These deposits carried an interest as determined by the SERC, the Minister said.

In reply to another question, Mr Balan said that KSEB was making concerted efforts to bring down its revenue deficit through a series of measures such as collection of arrears, generation of low-cost hydel power, prevention of power thefts and swapping of high-cost debts with low-cost ones.

Lottery scheme

The Finance Minister, Dr Thomas Isaac, said that the Government was planning to come out with a ‘lottery agents and sellers scheme’ instead of the Lottery Agents Welfare Fund. This would benefit the sellers also. As many as two lakh persons were earning their livelihood by selling lottery tickets, he added.