With the power bill dues of electricity consumers touching a record ₹3,260.09 crore, the spotlight is now on a one-time settlement (OTS) proposal made by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), although the utility has not enjoyed a great successs with OTS schemes in the past in whittling down the arrears.
Following a public hearing on Thursday, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission is expected to take a decision soon on the KSEB petition seeking nod for its OTS scheme.
The commission has given the KSEB one week’s time to amend its proposal, if necessary, based on suggestions made by the participants for resolving the vexing problem of old arrears and the dues of closed-down industrial and commercial units.
As per the OTS proposal, KSEB is offering a 6% relaxation in interest rate for arrears between two and five years, 5% on arrears above five years and below 15 years, and 4% on those above 15 years. The OTS could restrict the accumulation of arrears to a great extent, the KSEB noted, adding that it can considerably reduce bad debts in the KSEB book of accounts, revive sick industries and commercial institutions.
A quarterly statement issued by the KSEB for March 31 this year placed the combined power bill arrears of LT and HT consumers at ₹3,260.09 crore, of which only ₹408.69 crore is tied up in litigation.
While the Kerala Electricity Supply Code, 2014, permits a distribution licensee to formulate OTS for recovering long-pending arrears with the commission’s nod, the KSEB’s experience with such schemes has not been encouraging.
The KSEB’s own data indicate that OTS schemes have not helped it bring down the arrears from the four-digit figures. The total collection through OTS schemes in 2016 stood at ₹6.58 crore, and ₹20.45 crore in 2018. The scheme helped the KSEB recover ₹6.52 crore in 2019, ₹12.34 crore in 2021, and ₹3.61 crore in 2022.
On the other hand, through the years, the arrears have only mounted, reveal State Assembly and KSEB records. The arrears which stood at ₹1,796.63 crore in 2016 grew to ₹2,778.89 crore by March 31, 2022, ₹3,030.53 crore by December 31, 2022, and ₹3,260.09 crore by March 31, 2023.
When considering the tariff revision proposals in 2022, the the commission had instructed the KSEB to ‘‘propose a time-bound action plan with quarterly recovery targets and entrust this responsibility with identified teams’‘.
