The Hindu : Kerala News : KSEB corporatisation under way

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Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

KSEB corporatisation under way

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 22. A meeting of top officials convened by the Electricity Minister, Aryadan Mohammed, today drew up a broad outline for restructuring the power sector in the State as mandated by the Electricity Bill of 2003.

The proposal being got ready for the approval of the Cabinet envisages converting the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) into a corporate entity and entrusting all power trading activities to a new body.

Structure

The effort at the meeting was to find ways to retain the overall organisational structure of the KSEB while meeting the mandate of the 2003 Act.

The new entity will handle all activities of the KSEB in the generation, transmission and distribution sectors.

The Act specifically mandates that a utility handling transmission functions cannot indulge in trading activity.

Hence the inevitability of having a separate set-up exclusively to deal with the power trading functions of the KSEB, a top official told The Hindu.

The trading entity, for instance, will purchase energy from outside sources (non-KSEB generating stations) and sell it to the company that will come up in place of the KSEB. No big establishment will be required for this.

The proposal also envisages designating special officers to investigate offences such as power theft and charge cases. The Act mandates that there should be special courts to hear such cases.

Instead of setting up special courts, the meeting proposed that the Government could, with the permission of the High Court, designate courts at the district level for the purpose.

Overall performance

The meeting, which also reviewed the overall performance of the KSEB, felt that the professed objectives of the 2003 Act (improving the availability, affordability and quality of power supply) could be achieved within the existing organisational structure of the KSEB itself.

Over the last three years, despite a setback in hydel generation due to two successive years of poor monsoon in 2002-03 and 2003-04, the KSEB had acquitted itself quite well on the financial side.

Transmission loss

The transmission and distribution loss has come down from over 32 per cent to less than 26 per cent and the revenue deficit of the KSEB too is beginning to become manageable. "After all, the Act is all about improving efficiency in the power sector.

But, it has become a legal necessity to restructure the KSEB before June 10, the deadline given to all States to comply with the Act," the official said.

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