Call for power conservation

ബ്രൈറ്റനിംഗ് കേരള

Brightening Kerala

Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed has said the current situation calls for more focus on conservation of electricity, and not its generation.

He said this while addressing a gathering after inaugurating the “Brightening Kerala” project of the KSEB Engineers Association.

The project aims at promoting judicious use of energy and the need for new environment friendly major generating stations. The minister said by the end of the X11 Five Year Plan, the power needs of the State would touch 4,669 MW. At present, the generation was only around 1,700 MW.

This called for urgently increasing the generation capacity by an additional 2,000 MW within the next two years. It was with this aim that a scheme for tapping solar power was being launched. This year 10,000 houses were targeted to be installed with roof-top solar panels. In the long run, at least 3 lakh houses in the State should have roof top solar panels installed, he said.

Mr. Mohammed said the KSEB was purchasing power from outside the State at such a high cost that losses of the KSEB would touch Rs.2,000 crore this year.

The storage level in the State’s hydel power generation station reservoirs was now only 45 per cent of their level last year at this time. In the coming days increase in load shedding would become inevitable, he said, adding that conservation of power should hence be given more focus. For fresh hydro electric projects, getting environment clearance was a big problem. But even if a clearance was obtained, the opposition to such projects came from within the State itself, he said.

Source The Hindu

Power situation very grim: expert

K Radhakrishnan

K. Radhakrishnan, former member (generation), Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), and chairman of the energy campaign committee of the KSEB Engineers Association, has said a serious lapse on the part of the power engineers in the past few decades in removing the hurdles for establishing major power projects in Kerala is one of the reasons for the current power crisis.

Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on “Energy crisis and it solutions,” organised by the Y’s Men’s Club of Kottarakara on Sunday, he said the energy crisis situation in the State had reached such a situation that any more passiveness cannot be afforded.

He said that it was in the backdrop of this lapse that the KSEB Engineers Association had decided to shoulder a leading role in promoting and coordinating efforts to make Kerala an energy rich State.

The power situation in the State was very grim both in the short-term and long-term perspective.

While the present power shortage could to an extent be attributed to the failure of the monsoon this year, the picture for the coming years were not so bright since all the major power project proposals had been stalled on account of various reasons, he said.

This called for a two-pronged approach comprising short-term and long-term action plans, to overcome the situation. The short-term measures involved economisation of energy use.

Domestic sector

Since domestic sector consumption was around half of the total power consumption in the State, efforts to reduce the power consumption of this sector would have more impact.

For this, the KSEB Engineers Association had taken a decision to have mass awareness campaigns for reducing domestic consumption of energy, especially during peak hours.

In this connection, the association would coordinate efforts from the governmental-level and non-governmental organisations, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

Long-term plans

The long-term plans would be aimed at removing the hurdles for enhancing the electricity generation capacity of the State.

Chances of proposals on projects other than hydro electric stations becoming a reality were bleak with uncertainties.

Therefore, the State would have to take a fresh look at all the hydro electric projects of the State, which remained stalled since the past 20 years or more.

New approach

Mr. Radhakrishnan said a new approach which acknowledged coexistence of development and the environment was the need of the hour.

The misconceptions about hydel projects had to be addressed and weeded out effectively.

The real facts about environmental impacts of such projects should be brought to light by consolidating scientific opinions from expert organisations.

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‘Future of power situation in State is not very bright’

‘All major power project proposals have been stalled’

Source:The Hindu

KSEB plea to reduce power consumption

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has appealed to power consumers to cooperate with it in reducing the use of electricity.

The KSEB, in a press release on Thursday, drew the attention of the consumers to an order of the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission on October 9 asking them to reduce energy consumption. As per the order, all high tension (HT) and extra high tension (EHT) power consumers in the State should restrict their consumption to 75 per cent of their usual consumption between 6.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. The KSEB said that from October 12 it had started monitoring whether the consumers were complying with the direction.

By November end, the KSEB would submit before the commission a list of HT and EHT consumers who disobeyed the direction. The list would be placed in the public domain.

The KSEB said the consumers should not use electricity from its grid for lighting up advertisement boards, illuminating the outer side of buildings, and for any extravagant purposes. Power supply to such consumers would be disconnected.

The commission had warned that the consumers would have to pay a fuel surcharge on the additional quantity of thermal electricity the KSEB would have to purchase to make good the shortage in the availability of hydroelectric power due to the poor performance of the southwest monsoon. The amount spent on the additional thermal power during the period from October 2012 to March 2013 would be recovered from the consumers from the month of June 2013.

The fuel surcharge would be on the actual quantity of electricity consumed by each consumer during this period. Therefore, each consumer should take care to reduce power consumption, the KSEB said.

Source Hindu

Regulatory commission blamed for tariff hike

Dr D Shina
S N College, Kollam

D. Shina, electricity finance expert, has said the steep power tariff hike imposed on consumers is the direct result of a gross failure on the part of the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) in performing its duty.

Dr. Shina of Sree Narayana Guru College of Legal Studies, Kollam told The Hindu that the KSERC did not engage in “truing up” of accounts to identify the actual revenue gap and take corrective steps each year. This caused the revenue gaps to add up and grow to levels which could not be corrected. Finally, when all the possible damage was done, the KSERC to cover up its failures has inflicted a shock on the people through the tariff hike, she said.

It is interesting to note that the KSERC has not ordered any improvement in the quality of service along with the tariff hike which puts an annual burden of Rs.1,676.84 crore on the people of the State. But on the other hand, the KSERC is imposing reduction in staff.

On its part, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) instead of reducing the staff strength that has become redundant due to computerisation and such other programmes is engaged in axing down personnel in the consumer service segments. The truncation of the independent mobile squads of the KSEB is an instance in this connection, she said.

Dr. Shina said the KSEB which does not have any budgetary support has to run on commercial line to keep itself afloat. While on the one side the KSEB lacks commercial sense, on the other side the KSERC which is meant to inculcate commercial sense to the utility has failed in this duty too.

The KSERC is reported to have stated that the accumulated revenue gap during the previous years has not been taken into account. But the commission is answerable for this unbridged gap because this has weakened the utility badly and affected its capability to function.

While the electricity sector nationwide registered tremendous growth over the years vis-a-vis generation, the generation capacity in Kerala was limping and the KSERC failed to notice this.

Soft corner

She said the soft corner shown towards the industries in the new tariff rate is also not scientific. Only the industries can afford to go for alternative energy sources like solar power. But the pricing of the large quantity of energy consumed by the industries is placed at a low level, below the average cost, and this will make solar power unattractive to them.

The average cost of supplying one unit of electricity, as estimated at the beginning of the financial year, came to Rs.4.64. But in the revised tariff, for low-tension industrial consumers, the rate is Rs.4.25 a unit and for high-tension industrial consumers, the rate is Rs.4.10 a unit. This will contribute towards the KSEB suffering more losses. Being well organised, the pressure of the industrial groups is suspected to be behind this soft attitude towards them. On the other hand, domestic consumers above a certain level of consumption are taxed much, she said.

Source : The Hindu

‘Political conspiracy behind tariff hike’- S K Yesodharan

S K Yesodharan

"The KSERC had not denied the charges leveled against it by electricity finance expert D. Shina"

S.K. Yeshodharan, former general secretary of the KSEB Engineers Association, has said that the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) is solely responsible for the unbearable power tariff hike slapped on the people of the State.

In a statement here on Tuesday, he said the present KSERC which was constituted by the previous Left Democratic Front government was generally perceived to remain above politics. But the power tariff hike belied those expectations “since there appears to be a political conspiracy behind the hike.”

The KSERC performance had created problems for the electricity sector of the State which could not be easily solved. The KSERC had not denied the charges levelledagainst it by electricity finance expert D. Shina in the wake of the tariff hike, Mr. Yeshodharan said.

Source The Hindu