The Hindu Business Line : KSEB moves for 2,000 MW extra capacity in 10 yrs

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 16 The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is targeting to add 2,000 MW of electricity to its installed capacity over the next 10 years.

Of this, 250 MW is planned to be generated from wind power and 750 MW from hydro-electric sources, the Minister for Electricity, Mr. A.K. Balan, said here on Thursday.

The balance 1,000 MW is sought to be generated from thermal sources and KSEB is pinning its hopes on the proposed pit-head thermal plant at Baitharani coalfields in Orissa where Kerala has been allocated coal deposits.

Mr Balan said that KSEB was facing financial difficulties and one of the major reasons was huge arrears due from both private and public sector consumers.

The arrears had mounted to the tune of Rs 1,600 crore, of which the public sector undertakings accounted for Rs 850 crore and the private sector Rs 750 crore.

Tough measures

He said the board would take tough measures to collect the arrears and the PSUs would be asked to clear the backlog at the earliest. The Chief Minister had convened a couple of meetings in this respect, he added.

In the case of private sector consumers, a major chunk of the arrears could not be collected due to litigations. The board was taking steps to recover the amount through effective handling of the court cases as also through other means, the Minister said.

He noted that the board’s financial woes also stemmed from additional liabilities of around Rs 220 crore it had to bear in the wake of revision of the salary structure of its employees as also increased pension pay-out.

The salary revision added Rs 130 crore and pension pay-out another Rs 90 crore to the financial burden of the board.

Besides, the previous government had reduced tariff to the extent of 20 paise per unit in the run-up to the elections.

Overall, the operating expenses of the board had gone up and there had not been any tariff revision to offset it, Mr Balan said.