Kerala - Kochi

End power supply curbs, say industrialists

KOCHI: Kerala High Tension and Extra High Tension Industrial Electricity Consumers’ Association has once again raised the demand for ending the 20 per cent restrictions on power supply and collection of 50 paisa surcharge by the Electricity Board in view of the falling price of naphtha and the optimistic outlook on rains over the next week.

A spokesman for the association said here that these demands would be raised at the meeting of power consumers called by Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission on December 1 in the State capital.

The Regulatory Commission has promised to consider the power supply situation each month and to decide on the monthly tariffs for various categories of consumers and to hear their opinion.

The association spokesman said that the meeting scheduled for December 1 had special significance because it would be four months since the power drawing restrictions were imposed.

Initially, the KSEB had also sought to collect the thermal surcharge for four months to meet the extra expenses on account of the thermal power component in the total electricity supply basket.

However, the steep drop in the fall of naphtha makes it the right time for KSEB to reconsider its decisions and for the Regulatory Commission to take a decision, said the spokesman for industrial consumers.

The spokesman said that naphtha price was at a three-year low at less than Rs. 20,000 per tonne.

This is around 70 per cent less than the peak price of naphtha earlier this year.

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