The Kerala government is in two minds over Kerala State Electricity Board?s (KSEB) demand to slap thermal surcharge on high tension and extra high tension (HT & EHT) consumers. The meeting of the State Cabinet on Wednesday is unlikely to recommend the kind of tough measures that the board has sought.
Kerala needs 2,700 mw per day. It has 2,528 mw available per day, with as much as 1,851 mw per day drawn from its 24 hydro power projects. This time, scanty rains are not affording the best hydel power output from KSEB?s star reservoir at Idukky.
Besides the blast at Moozhiyar power station three months ago, small hydro projects like Kakkad and Maniyar, geared to the Moozhiyar station, are forced to idle. In May, the board had to resort to buy thermal power from the Punjab Electricity Board, at a price 12 times that of its own hydel power production costs.
As per KSEB?s dossier of proposals, HT & EHT consumers will have to cough up thermal surcharge for at least 25% of their power requirement. By this move, consumers could partly shoulder the Rs 2,330-crore thermal power bill that KSEB incurs, the board says.
The only options left for State government are to offer subsidy cushion for the board or stall the decision hoping that rains will step in, improving the hydel power situation, sources told FE.
One, State industry minister Elamaram Karim is under pressure from power-guzzling industries to spare industrial consumers from shouldering the thermal power burden. KSEB is already saving 125 MW per day by getting HT & EHT consumers plying own generators during peak time.
Industrial outfits have cautioned the LDF government that slapping of thermal power surcharge would mean curbs on production altogether. Iron and steel industry, caustic soda units etc are sectors most affected by load shedding and thermal power surcharge. If there is a thermal surcharge as well, industrial production could fall by one-third, claims the association of HT & EHT power consumers.
And, the case for a `wait-and-watch? remedy is strengthened as South West Monsoon has swung above turn in Kerala after a brief leg of break-monsoon. IMD sources are optimistic about a trough in South East Arabian Sea likely to precipitate to a low pressure area this week.