The Hindu : `Power sector will not be privatised'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 08, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`Power sector will not be privatised'

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM April 7. The Electricity Minister, Kadavoor Sivadasan, today said Kerala would not privatise its power sector, notwithstanding any of the stipulations in the Electricity Bill, 2001, now before the Parliament for legislation.

Speaking to mediapersons after the inauguration of the office of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission here, he said the State Government had the right to use its discrimination on the question whether to privatise its power sector or not.

``There is widespread fear among Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) employees and the general public that the Central Bill, when passed by Parliament, will lead to the privatisation of the power sector here also. I want to allay this fear. We do not think privatisation is necessary'' he said.

At the Moozhiyar power house, which was shut down last month following a major accident, one of the generators was expected to be put right by now. The latest report was that this generator could be put into operation only after two more days, Mr. Sivadasan said.

He said the expert committee appointed by the Government to study the cause of the Moozhiyar accident would be finishing its job very soon. "The inquiry is in its final stage. A team of experts from the Central Power Research Institute is expected to reach here by April 10. The inquiry report will be finalised only after gathering the views of these experts also,'' he said.

Mr. Sivadasan said 200-MW of power sought additionally by the State from the Central grid because of the present crisis would be available to the State for one more month. The storage level in the hydel reservoirs in the State was extremely precarious at the moment. "But, I am sure we will be able to manage things till the beginning of June, when the situation will improve with the arrival of the monsoon,'' he said.

The Chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, M.G.K. Pillai, who too was present, said the commission would be taking all its decisions in the most transparent manner possible. The power tariff structure would be reviewed by the commission on an annual basis even if the KSEB did not submit its petition for any revision. This did not mean that there would be a tariff hike every year. The decision following the review could even be to insist on a tariff reduction, based on the financial aspects of the functioning of the power sector.

Mr. Pillai said the commission would take a decision on any tariff revision petition submitted by the KSEB within six months of its receipt. The commission would also seek the views of the licenced power distributors like the Technopark, the Tata Tea (in Munnar), the Cochin Port Trust and the Thrissur Corporation before it took a decision on the KSEB's petition. The KSEB would have to furnish all its accounts to the commission in a specified format on a regular basis.

Each decision of the commission would be published in the media with the particulars to show the logic of arriving at the decision. He said the law stipulated that the decision of the commission would be binding on the power utilities concerned and also the Government. It could be questioned only in the High Court.

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