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The Kerala government is willing to consider better compensation to landowners who forego land for laying the Edamon-Kochi line to draw power from the Kudankulam power plant.
The land is being sought to be acquired mostly from Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts, according to Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed.
Explaining the power availability position, he told the Assembly the daily demand aggregated 3,800 MW against a local generation of 2,000 MW.
Repairs at the Sabarigiri hydel station is expected to be completed by June 25. Withdrawal of the 45-minute load-shedding would be contingent on full-fledged monsoon conditions later.
The Minister said that the Kerala State Electricity Board had approached the State Electricity Regulatory Commission for a tariff hike.
This is intended for recovering at least Rs 1,400.63 crore of the Rs 2,931.21-crore revenue deficit projected for 2014-15.
“Raising the tariff for all classes of consumers is the only way out. But the existing subsidy given to consumers using only 120 units will continue,” he said.
Hydroelectric projects with a projected generation capacity of 700 MW were pending with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The State proposed to achieve cent per cent electrification by September 30 this year, the Minister told the House.
The State Electricity Board has achieved 98 per cent electrification in all the districts in the Malabar region, except Palakkad.
Meanwhile, a CAG report for 2013 tabled in the House said that the Board’s generation plan had failed to meet the target.
The Board could make only a capacity addition of 214.20 MW against the required addition of 1,380.39 MW.
Peak demand ranged between 2,765 and 3,348 MW and the deficit ranged between 222 MW and 528 MW during 2008-13.
Power charge arrears due from 1,094 consumers totted up to Rs1,383 crore, the report said.
A one-time settlement scheme launched by the Board could settle only 32 cases with outstanding arrears of Rs 85.98 crore. Only Rs 34.51 crore could be collected.
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