As the mercury levels soar in the state with the summer season reaching its peak, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is forced to shell out more money to purchase power from outside.
The KSEB’s power bill and the electricity units bought from outside have been witnessing a steady rise over the past three years. Interestingly, the per-day power purchase bill of the Board was a little over `10 crore in 2010-11, which more than doubled to `21.4 crore this year so
far, reveals a Right to Information (RTI) query’s response.
In 2010-11, the board had purchased 10512.27 Million Units (MU) worth `3721.59 crore to meet the power demand.
The bill has surged to `5881.06 crore for 14908.82 MU in 2013-14 till January.
Considering the surging heat and the record usage, the power buying bill from outside in this financial year (2013-14) is likely to surpass the amount in 2012-13, which was ` 7199.61 crore.
Indicating the increased dependency of the board on power from outside sources, the amount spent to buy power was raised by 58 per cent in a span of three years. Within this decade, the highest power bill paid by the KSEB was `7199.61 crore for 2012-13.
“The average daily demand in the state now stands at 65 to 68 MU, of which 25 to 28 MU is being purchased from outside,” said V V Sathyarajan, Chief Engineer (Distribution- Central), Kerala State Electricity Board.
“The board is taking steps to reduce the dependency on hydel energy. We are presently exploring the possibilities of tapping alternative methods of power generation. Solar, gas and wind energy plants are likely to provide major relief to the state in this regard. The state may need the entire quota of power generated from the power plants in the state to meet the surging demand,” he said.
As per the RTI reply, the amount given away by the KSEB was increased by `653.72 crore and ` 2824.3 crore in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively, when compared to the earlier financial years.
Experts have pointed out that the power bill for the present year is going to be a new record for the Kerala State Electricity Board.