Fuel surcharge on power bills in May also

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) will continue the collection of 19 paise per unit as fuel surcharge on electricity bills in May.

Of the 19 paise to be collected in May, 10 paise is meant for recouping the additional expense on power purchases made in March this year. The remaining nine paise per unit accounts for additional expenditure on power purchases incurred in the second and third quarter of 2022-23.

Surcharges are imposed for recovering additional expenditure incurred on power purchases on account of variations in fuel price and power purchase costs. The KSEB is planning to recover ₹38.99 crore through the fuel surcharge.

The day’s consumption touched 115.94 million units (mu) on Friday, amid the KSEB’s frantic efforts to keep peak demand down. This is a record for Kerala. Power ‘imports’ accounted for 80.37% of the consumption, show official data.

The KSEB has opened a special control room for coordinating the efforts to tackle the power crisis. Opened at the Vydythi Bhavan, the KSEB headquarters here at Pattom, the control room will coordinate efforts to tackle feeder overload, load management in substations and region-wise demand-supply management.

The control room is manned by personnel from the transmission and distribution wings and load despatch centre. The facility will be operational until the electricity demand is brought under control, the KSEB said.

Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty said Statewide power restrictions can be avoided if consumers cooperated with the KSEB initiatives to keep the peak demand in check.