The Kerala State Electricity Board is likely to revise the state’s power tariff in 2021. The new rates are likely to be announced in the next fiscal. Based on the revenue and expenditure figures of 2019, the state had hiked the power tariff last year and this was supposed to be effective until March 2020. However, factoring in the Covid-19 pandemic, the hike was extended until March 2021.
The tariff hike, every year, is split into three parts. The first is the thermal surcharge for covering the charges incurred for procuring thermal power from other states. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission is now considering the pleas filed by the Kerala State Electricity Board for the previous three quarters, and based on this will revise the surcharges for the next fiscal. KSEB in its pleas has demanded that 10 paise per unit be charged from October 2019 to December, 10 paise per unit from January to March 2020, and 6 paise per unit from April to September 2020. The last hike is part of a routine fee increase in order to cover the losses incurred by KSEB.
Further, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission hiked the charges applicable for inter-state power transmission in November 2020. “These charges are called Wheeling charges which are recovered by the owner of the power grid. So if Kerala or any other state is transporting power from other parts of the country, and through different states, the KSEB will have to pay the wheeling charges to the owners of the transmission system they are using to bring the power to Kerala. With a hike in this fee, there are additional costs incurred to KSEB,” a former member of the board explained to TNM.
According to reports, the Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd will urge the State Regulatory Commission to recover this amount from consumers if the Centre does not withdraw the hike in inter-state transmission charges.