The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) submitted before the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission that the board had incurred losses up to ₹1,200 crore during the two financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21, while the Kerala High Tension and Extra High Tension Industrial Consumers Association contended that the board was making a profit of around ₹800 crore during the period.
The figures were presented at a hearing held here by the Commission for stakeholders on Monday on the truing up of accounts submitted by the board for financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21. Petitions submitted before the commission by various stakeholders were considered at the hearing.
Truing up of accounts is the finalisation of details of revenue and expenditure of the KSEB for the respective financial years.
A spokesman for industrial consumers said the KSEB Chairman had himself claimed that the board had made operational profit during the last financial year, while the Electricity Board Officers Association had claimed that the board had been in operational profit over the last few years.
The Industrial Consumers Association was of the view that the KSEB’s claims could not be entertained, as the association also questioned its statement in its budget for 2022-23 that it would make an operational profit of ₹496 crore, while the petition submitted before the Commission had claimed a possible loss of over ₹2,800 crore.
The Commission had recently concluded hearing on a petition by the KSEB for continuous power charge increase between 2022 and 2027. The board had projected an expense of ₹18,829 crore during 2022 and ₹23,382 crore during 2027, while the revenue for the two years was projected at ₹15,976 crore and ₹18,203 crore respectively.
