THIRUVANATHAPURAM: THE Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has not filed its Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) and Expected Revenue from Charges (ERC) before the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), although the third extension of deadline set by the Commission ended on Friday.
The ARR & ERC forms the budgetary estimates of the power utility for the year ahead. It has to be approved by the Commission.
November 30, 2010, was the original deadline for filing the ARR & ERC.
The KSEB had requested an extension and was given time until December 31.
Though the power utility sought yet another extension of the deadline - this time up to January 31 - the Commission conceded time up to January 21.
When contacted, top KSEB officials said that the ARR was ready, but it had to be approved by the KSEB Chairman who had gone to New Delhi.
A top Commission official said that the ARR & ERC had not been filed till Friday evening. The Commission was planning to wait a few more days to see if the KSEB files it, he said.
The KSEB is reportedly dithering on filing the ARR as it has claimed a massive revenue gap, to the tune of more than `2,000 crore.
This may not bode well for the LDF Government right before the Assembly Elections.
During the previous year and the year before it, the Commission had mercilessly whittled down the revenue gap claimed by KSEB.
But KSEB sources said that the very fact that such a huge revenue gap was being claimed in the election year would be construed, by the Opposition for instance, as a preliminary for demanding a tariff hike.