If there’s one thing whose popularity isn’t waning, it’s electricity. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) expects to provide 4.35 lakh new service electricity connections in the state in the 2014-15 fiscal.
As part of improving power supply to consumers, the power utility will also be undertaking distribution-related works to the tune of `700 crore during the fiscal. This is part of the `1,300 crore annual plan approved by the KSEB director board.
The KSEB hopes to add 4,322 km of LT distribution lines and extend 11 KV lines by another 2,665 km. Faulty electricity meters continue to be a headache. As part of the annual plan, the KSEB intends to replace 11.80 lakh meters during 2014-15.
For sprucing up the transmission side, KSEB will spend `241 crore. In all, 21 new sub-stations are planned, including one 220 KV, six 110 KV, three 66 KV and eleven 33 KV ones. Transmission lines for 290.7 km will be freshly drawn. A sum of `84.10 crore has been earmarked for maintenance works of transmission installations and another `15 crore will be spent on systems operations.
In the generation sector, the KSEB will be spending a total of `332 crore. Of this, `190 crore will be on ongoing hydel power projects, `30.50 crore on new hydel projects and `17.50 crore on existing, operational projects.
Several hydel projects are to go in for maintenance during the current fiscal; Poringalkuthu, Kallada, Idukki Stage-1, Kuttiyadi and Sholayar. `16.50 crore has been earmarked for these works. Other components on the generation side include `23 crore for the DRIP, `15 crore for wind/solar projects and `2 crore for gas-based projects.