Mounting arrears on electricity and water bills continue to haunt both the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) even as both utilities have announced schemes to coax the defaulters to pay up.
As on June 30 this year, power bill arrears have mounted to a whopping ₹3,585.69 crore and that on water bills ₹1,352.35 crore, according to data furnished in the Assembly earlier this week by the Power and Water Resources departments. Government departments and institutions continue to top the list of defaulters, according to the break-ups of consumer categories that owe both utilities large sums.
In the case of KSEB, State public sector units alone have run up arrears of ₹1,768.80 crore, according to the Assembly documents. State government departments owe ₹141.43 crore and Central government institutions ₹110.42 crore. Central government departments (₹2.09 crore), private establishments (₹1,086.15 crore), domestic consumers (₹389.81 crore), public institutions (₹64.51 crore), local bodies (₹6.74 crore), and other establishments (₹15.74 crore).
