THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The financial condition of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has not improved to a stage where a reduction in electricity tariff is possible.

This is the essence of the KSEB's financial statement for 2006-07 submitted to the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC).

The KSEB's statement showing its `aggregate revenue requirement' (ARR) for 2006-07 projects a revenue gap of Rs. 302.78 crores for that year. The projected total revenue requirement is Rs. 3,997.51 crores and the projected total income Rs. 3,694.73 crores.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, SERC chairman C. Balakrishnan said that the State Government could, if it so desired, bring down the power tariff by supporting the KSEB with the required subsidy. In any case, the SERC is yet to receive any proposal for a tariff reduction from the KSEB, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

He was replying to a question relating to the UDF high power committee's decision on Monday to ask its Government to announce a tariff reduction.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the SERC would evaluate the KSEB's ARR after gathering the consumers' views about it. The SERC would not concede the expenditure claims that were not justifiable.

He said one of the major achievements of the KSEB since 2001-02 was the progressive reduction in transmission and distribution (T&D) loss of energy. It was 30.76 per cent in 2001-02, 29.08 per cent in 2002-03, 27.44 per cent in 2003-04, 24.95 per cent in 2004-05 and 23.34 per cent in 2005-06 (estimate). In 2006-07, it is expected to go down further to 21.58 per cent, according to the KSEB's latest ARR.

He said the T&D loss experienced by the KSEB at present was comparable to some of the better State power utilities in the country, though there was certainly scope to improve the situation further.

The total income of the KSEB from tariff and non-tariff sources was Rs. 3,257.01 crores in 2004-05. The projection of a total income as Rs. 3,694.73 crores in the ARR for 2006-07 means an expected increase of Rs. 437.72 crores in the receipts within a span of two years.

The total revenue requirement during the same period too has increased. It was Rs. 3,599.77 crores in 2004-05 and is expected to go up to Rs. 3,997.51 crores in 2006-07, according the latest ARR, the increase being Rs. 397.74 crores.

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