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| 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.
