The Hindu : Front Page : KSEB's revenue doubles in four years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 05, 2005

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KSEB's revenue doubles in four years

P. Venugopal

Operating profit likely this financial year

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The revenue of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) from sale of power registered a two-fold increase during the last four years, according to its chairman T. M. Manoharan.

Addressing a meeting of the Inter-Media Publicity Coordination Committee here on Tuesday, Mr. Manoharan said KSEB's revenue from sale of power in 2004-05 came to Rs.3,778 crores. He said the KSEB, which had been running up an annual revenue deficit of nearly Rs.1,000 crores three or four years ago, might even come up with operating profits during the current financial year.

This change in the KSEB's financial position happened through a series of measures addressing the very basic issues. High-interest loans were swapped with low-interest ones, anti-power theft activities were intensified, redundant posts were abolished and many long-pending disputes were settled to recover revenue due. Also, procedures relating to material purchase and tenders were tightened to prevent leakage of funds.

He said the KSEB's financial recovery would have happened faster had the monsoon not failed consecutively for two years in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

Kerala had harnessed only 1,841 MW of hydel power so far, against a potential of 4,333 MW. Since hydroelectric stations represented the cheapest source of energy, there should be efforts to tap the State's hydel potential to the maximum possible extent, he said.

Environmental concerns stood in the way of the State's power sector in tapping the available hydel potential in full.

The State had, recently, suggested to the Centre that there should be a mechanism under which States such as Kerala, which had to bear `the opportunity cost' for protecting the forests in the interests of the whole country, could be compensated. While a major share of Kerala's hydel potential remained untapped, the State had to buy costly thermal power from outside for its needs, he said.

Mr. Manoharan said the State's installed power generation capacity had grown from 109.5 MW in 1958 to the present 2,637 MW.

Spelling out the achievements of the KSEB, he said every village in the State had been electrified. Over 80 per cent of the households in the State had power connection now. And every connection was metered, unlike in most of the other States in the country. Mr. Manoharan said managing peak hour demand was a challenge in Kerala. Even so, the State was managing without load shedding during the peak hours.

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