The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission will on Monday kick off a series of public hearings for finalising a decision on the tariff revision proposals made by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for the fiscals from 2023-24 to 2026-27.
The hearing on Monday, the first of four planned across the State, will be held at the Nalanda Auditorium, Kozhikode. The second one will be held at the District Panchayat Hall, Palakkad, on Tuesday. The third hearing is scheduled to be held at the Town Hall of the Kochi Corporation at Ernakulam North on Wednesday (May 10). The fourth and final one will be held at the Institution of Engineers Hall, Vellayambalam, Thiruvananthapuram, on May 15. All the hearings will start at 11 a.m., commission officials said.
For the 2023-24 fiscal, the KSEB had proposed a hike of 40.64 paise per unit. The hikes proposed for the remaining fiscals are as follows: 2024-25 (31 paise), 2025-26 (16.77 paise), and 2026-27 ( one paise). According to the KSEB, the proposals have been designed in such a way to prevent a ‘tariff shock’ to the consumers even as the revenue gap of the KSEB is shortened.
Green energy tariff
Alongside the petition for the general tariff revision, the commission will also consider a petition submitted by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for the purchase of green energy from the KSEB. In an additional proposal placed before the commission, the KSEB has proposed ₹2.54 per unit as the green energy tariff for consumers who have opted for it in 2023-24. This is a premium charge over and above the retail tariffs applicable to the consumers concerned.
The KSEB had submitted the tariff revision proposals in February this year. In March, the commission had extended the validity of the prevailing electricity tariffs in the State to June 30, 2023. Their validity was due to expire on March 31, but an extension was given to give the commission time to complete procedures for a revision.
Via email too
The tariff proposals filed by the KSEB can be accessed on www.erckerala.org. While the hearings are open to members of the public, they also have the option of informing the commission about their opinions/suggestions via email on kserc@erckerala.org. They will be accepted till 5 p.m. on May 15.
