6 months ago
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The Kerala authorities has recommended the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) to region the headdress of 10 paise a portion connected the substance surcharge that tin beryllium charged connected the energy bills of consumers.
The State authorities has made a circumstantial argumentation absorption successful this respect to the KSERC, which had acceptable the ceiling, successful effect to the revised guidelines issued by the Union Finance Ministry for States availing themselves of further borrowing of 0.5% of their Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
The November 21 argumentation absorption by the authorities sought compliance with the presumption for ‘fuel and powerfulness acquisition outgo accommodation (FPPCA)’ mentioned successful the Union Power Ministry’s Electricity (Amendment) Rules, 2022, “by avoiding ceiling bounds of 10 paise per portion per month” fixed by the commission. Section 108 requires the KSERC to beryllium guided by written argumentation directions from the State authorities successful matters of nationalist interest.
The further borrowing to the grade of 0.5% of the GSDP is linked to powerfulness assemblage performance. Of the mandatory and show valuation conditions successful the guidelines, 1 deals with the FPPCA compliance and the second, with the threshold limits for tariff-based competitory bidding of intrastate transmission projects.
Power acquisition costs
As the organisation licencee, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) collects substance surcharge connected energy bills for recovering further wealth spent connected powerfulness purchases. Electricity (Amendment) Rules, 2022, specify the conditions for the “timely recovery” of powerfulness acquisition costs by a organisation licencee. It says that substance and powerfulness acquisition accommodation surcharges should beryllium calculated and billed to consumers automatically, without going done the regulatory support process connected a monthly ground arsenic per the look prescribed by the State commission.
In May 2023, the committee had fixed 10 paise a portion arsenic the maximum surcharge that tin beryllium automatically collected from consumers successful a period aft the Centre amended the Electricity Rules to marque surcharge betterment by organisation companies (Discom) an automatic process. Then, the committee had noted that the equilibrium surcharge, if any, could beryllium carried guardant to the adjacent period taxable to the information that the betterment would not transcend 10 paise a unit.
Transmission projects
In effect to the Centre’s guidelines, the authorities has besides sought the commission’s motion for mounting ₹250 crore arsenic the threshold bounds for considering tariff-based competitory bidding for intrastate transmission projects.
Following the Finance Ministry’s revision of the guidelines successful September this year, the KSEB had written to the State authorities to instrumentality up these matters with the KSERC. In effect to the government’s petition the aforesaid period that the ceiling beryllium removed, the committee had sought a ceremonial argumentation absorption from the government, notes the November 21 authorities bid issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Puneet Kumar.
