The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has begun issuing disconnection notices to commercial and industrial consumers who have failed to clear their arrears by December 31.
Deserving consumers
Deserving consumers, however, will be given more time to clear their dues, said KSEB officials on Monday. Cinema halls, for instance, have been given time till January 31 to clear the arrears as they have remained shut on account of COVID-10.
According to the KSEB, arrears had mounted to approximately ₹700 crore during the pandemic-induced lockdown period. As part of COVID-19-related concessions, the KSEB had announced a rebate of 25% on fixed charges applicable to industrial/commercial consumers during March, April, and May 2020.
Case-by-case basis
For paying the balance 75% of the three months, the utility had given the consumers time till December 31. The KSEB had also announced that no interest would be levied on the amount.
“We do understand that consumers are still facing difficulties due to the pandemic. We are not against providing deserving consumers more time or the opportunity to clear the arrears in instalments. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis,” a KSEB official said.
Limited choice for utility
Moreover, the KSEB is not in a position to extend the deadlines any further, the official said. In May 2020, the Centre had increased the borrowing limit of States by an additional 2% of the GSDP in view of the pandemic. This, however, is subject to certain conditions which also include power sector reforms such as reducing aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and also the gap between average cost of supply (ACS) and aggregate revenue realised (ARR).
These targets would not be met if the KSEB were to further delay the recovery of arrears.
