The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has demanded a tariff revision on the premise that it will incur a loss of Rs.1,600 crore this year and Rs.2,200 crore next year.
But the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC), which heard a suo motu Aggregate Revenue Requirement and Expected Revenue from Charges (ARR&ERC) statement of the board prepared by the commission on Wednesday, felt that the board would turn profitable during the next two years.
Redeployment of staff
If the commission approved the statement of the board, the cost per unit would go up by Rs.2, KSEB chairman T.M. Manoharan said. He proposed a redeployment of employees to reduce the administrative cost incurred by the board. KSEB directed not to purchase power from the plants of NTPC at Kayamkulam and a private company in Kochi during the current year.
The KSERC directed that the board need not source power from the NTPC plant or Bombay Suburban Electricity Services Kerala Power Limited in Kochi during the current year.
Fixed charges
The commission said the board need not pay the annual fixed charges worth Rs.261 crore to the Kayamkulam plant anymore.
The commission had excluded the expense incurred by the board in this score from the statement prepared by it.
Since the power purchase pact between the board and the two suppliers had expired, the commission had not accorded permission for purchasing power from the two units, chairman T.M. Manoharan said. The board had also not approached the commission seeking to draw power from these units, he said.
The commission felt that there was no need to generate power at Brahmapuram and Kozhikode plants this year since the production cost was exorbitant.
