Kerala - Kochi   

No decision on power tariff hike: Aryadan

KOCHI: Minister for Electricity Aryadan Mohammed has said that the State government, as of now, has not contemplated any tariff hike.

At a press conference here on Saturday, he said that even if the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission permitted the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to impose a fuel surcharge, the matter would be taken up at the State Cabinet for a decision. The Minister slammed reports in a section of the press that pointed to an imminent tariff hike. There would be no decision now that would impose a bigger burden on the ordinary people. He said the government had not even thought of a tariff hike right now.

He said there was a revenue gap of around Rs.900 crore for the KSEB. The government was still thinking about ways to bridge this gap. Hiking electricity charge would not be the first step to bridge the gap, he said.

The Minister said the government would consider all aspects of a tariff hike. He ruled out any cut in the wages and benefits of KSEB employees. The Minister said the employees had to be given fair wages and allowances and cutting their wages would not be a solution to meeting the revenue gap.

One of the ways the board thought of bridging the gap was to cut transmission and distribution (T&D) loss, the Minister said. The T&D loss in 2001 was around 32 per cent. It was brought down to 23 per cent by 2006. Right now the T&D loss was between 18 and 19 per cent. Implementation of the Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP), backed by the Union government, in various urban centres, including in Thiruvnananthapuram and Kochi, was responsible for the reduction in T&D losses.

He said the programme was still under implementation and that its completion would be a major step towards curtailing the losses during transmission and distribution.

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