The Hindu Business Line : Kerala electricity regulator for continuing curbs on power supply

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 8 The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) has decided to continue with the restrictions on power supply already in force in the State, till further orders.

In its interim order issued on Monday after a public hearing on a petition filed by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) praying for further restrictions, SERC has said that it will review the power situation in the State on or before November 1, to decide whether to extend or relax the restrictions. It has also directed KSEB to furnish all the necessary data for the review. SERC has pointed out that though KSEB had requested for extension of the restrictions to all categories of consumers, it has not submitted any specific proposal in this regard.

The commission is of the view that such a proposal needs to be considered seriously and hence the board should file a petition before it for implementation of power restrictions on LT consumers, if required.

As of now, power supply has been restricted to 75 per cent for HT and EHT consumers in the State.

For further supply of power, the KSEB had requested the commission to allow it to levy the actual cost of the power purchased by it from outside.

The commission in its interim order has fixed Rs 10.16 for every unit used by the HT and EHT consumers over and above the restricted 75 per cent.

At the public hearing, KSEB said the overall hydro-electric power situation in the State had not improved and the availability of power from the Central generating stations had further come down due to shortage of coal. In the event, the board projected an average availability of 16 million and 16.2 million units from the hydel and Central generating stations, respectively, per day between August 2008 and March 2009.

In the circumstances, the board had proposed that to limit the additional requirement of power over and above the availability from hydel and central generating stations, additional restrictions to the tune of 4.56 million units a day had to be imposed on all categories of consumers.

Alternatively, the board had suggested that it be allowed to procure additional power to the tune of 1,884 million units from liquid fuel power stations and traders and pass the additional cost to consumers in the current financial year itself.

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