THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite efforts taken by the KSEB to recover power bill arrears, the dues in fact have mounted, according to statistics presented in the Legislative Assembly. Power bill arrears from various categories of consumers have mounted to a whopping Rs 2,580.33 crore, Electricity Minister M M Mani has said.
As on September 30, the state government departments owe the KSEB Rs 94.83 crore, while the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) - the single biggest defaulter - and state public sector units (PSU) owe Rs 1,503.84 crore. Central Government departments and Central PSUs have piled up arrears to the tune of Rs 1.53 crore and Rs 36.41 crore, respectively. Local self-government institutions owe Rs 4.39 crore, while private companies owe Rs 939.33 crore.
The KSEB expects to recover Rs 797 crore through its one-time settlement scheme (OTS).
Up to August 31 this year, the power utility had recovered `2.41 crore under OTS. KSEB has also extended the term of the scheme up to December 31, he said. Compared to last year, the KSEB has been able to recover Rs 167 crore this year.
The state does not face a power supply crisis at present and KSEB will not have to impose load sheddings or power cuts, Electricity Minister M M Mani said. In a written reply to the Assembly, he said that except for two units each at the Panniyar power station, Poringalkuthu project and a few small hydel projects, all units that were affected by the mid-August floods are back on track. As on November 22, the combined storage in hydel dams is adequate to generate 3,151.38 million units. Compared to the same period last year, the storage has increased by 157.98 MU, Mani said.