MANGALORE: The stoppage of mining by Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL) at Kudremukh in Chikmagalur district has set off a chain reaction in terms of revenue loss to many commercial entities. One among these feeling the brunt of the closure necessitated by the Supreme Court order, is the Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. (MESCOM).

KIOCL accounted for Rs. 15 crores per month earned by MESCOM by way of revenue. This is around 18 per cent of total revenue earned by MESCOM.

Power consumption

KIOCL utilised nearly 1.5 million units per day and 25 million units on an average per month. KIOCL's load utilisation was 75 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA). Comparative load utilisation of domestic household is around 3 kilo Volt Ampere (kVA).

S. Sumanth, Managing Director of MESCOM told The Hindu here on Monday that stoppage of mining at Kudremukh will affect MESCOM. Stating that KIOCL was one of MESCOM's prompt payers, he said their stopping commercial operation will affect revenue. "KIOCL was one of MESCOM's leading power consumers and revenue generators and an old valued customer," he noted.

On a comparative basis, Mr. Sumanth said KIOCL's share in MESCOM's balance sheet was better than some other bigger industries covered by it, namely Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited and Mysore Paper Mills at Bhadravathi in Shimoga district and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. Companies such as KIOCL are a dream for any power company, he said.

Asked about the next course of action for making up for this revenue loss, he said MESCOM will go out of its way to help industries, which generate bulk revenue. "We have set up a High Voltage Customer Management Cell headed by an executive engineer at the corporate office. It will monitor requests by industries and deal with it on a priority basis,'' he said.

"BASF, a major chemical dye manufacturing unit at Kuthethur, has approached us for 1.5 MVA connection and we have sanctioned it," he said.

"MESCOM is committed to meeting power requirements of bulk industrial consumers and they can approach the cell, the managing director or director (technical) if they have problems in getting their requirements met," he added.

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