Hefty power tariff hike likely this year

This is the link to my story in The Hindu on January 17, 2009:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/17/stories/2010011750020100.htm
and the following the text:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A hefty hike in electricity tariffs seems to be on the cards for all sections of consumers this year judging from the affidavit the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has filed before the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) showing its expected income and expenses in 2010-11.

With the tariffs remaining at the present levels, the KSEB will be left with a huge revenue deficit of Rs.2,219.60 crore in the year 2010-11, according to the 164-page affidavit now before the KSERC.

The current financial year (2009-10) too is set to bring a big revenue deficit of Rs.1,928.66 crore for the KSEB, the affidavit said. The KSERC, while approving the KSEB’s affidavit on ‘aggregate revenue requirement and expected revenue from charges’ for 2009-10, had hoped that the KSEB would close the year with a revenue gap of only Rs.335.30 crore.

The aggregate revenue requirement of the KSEB for the current year is likely to touch Rs.6,881.25 crore, while the income from non-tariff sources and sale of power will come to only Rs.4,952.59 crore, according to the revised estimate for 2009-10. In the coming year (2010-11), the KSEB expects the aggregate revenue requirement to go up to Rs.7,503.98 crore, while the income from all sources, including sale of power at the current tariffs, will come to only Rs.5,284.38 crore, the affidavit said.

“The board had been supplying electricity at the lowest price in the country for several decades. The budgetary support and subsidies for supplying electricity below the cost of supply in the past was not received in cash from the government. The board had to resort to heavy borrowings to meet the expenses. But up to last year, the board was able to contain the borrowings and the burden of interest payment. But during this year, the additional financial liability incurred by the board to purchase high-cost energy has severely affected the financial position and the board had to resort to heavy borrowings from financial institutions,” the affidavit said.

The KSEB had already submitted to the KSERC a petition seeking permission to impose a surcharge of Rs.0.46 on each unit of electricity on all categories of consumers. But, the request for this surcharge is only to recover from the consumers a sum of Rs.311.52 crore spent additionally by the KSEB on high-cost energy till September 2009. The KSERC is holding a public hearing on this request on January 27. The detailed evaluation of the latest affidavit will be done by the KSERC only subsequently.

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