BANGALORE, February 7: The Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB) has accumulated arrears of around Rs 200-300 crore in 1997-98 which it owes to Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL).According to a senior KEB official, this amount will be adjusted with the Karnataka government as part of a tripartite agreement among the three to be finalised in April this year.
Previously, too, the shortfall in payment by KEB to KPCL has been made good by the state government by way of monthly instalments.
KPCL owes a substantial amount to the the state government for loans and accumulated interest payment availed by by it over the years.
The payments made by the state government will be adjusted, as in the past, against the rural electrification subsidy to be paid to KEB for free power supplied to the agriculture sector and for supplies to municipal bodies throughout the state. KEB supplies over 40 per cent of its total power to the agriculture sector which is subsidised to extent of 80 per cent.
KEB's billing is atpresent Rs 100 crore per month and an outstanding amount of Rs 200-300 crore would not be too much to settle according to a senior KPCL official, because it amounts to only 2-3 months of outstanding payment.
But if the amount is accumulated over a period, KEB may consider selling its generating assets which include 300 mw of installed capacity to KPCL. This would not only help wipe out KEB's debt but also bring the entire generation of power in the state under KPCL.
According to a senior Karnataka Electricity Board official, the board has undertaken a restructuring exercise and several energy audits which may help improve its overall efficiency and also help reduce transmission and distribution losses. The overall dues to KPCL may be much lower than anticipated initially, he added.
During 1996-97, KEB's outstanding to KPCL amounted to Rs 550 crore which was subsequently scaled down to Rs 310 crore.
Meanwhile, an overall improvement in the hydel power generation in Karnataka is likely to have apositive bearing on the performance of Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) during 1997-98, which may prevent it from forcing the issue with KEB.
This would be a considerable recovery from KPCL's performance during 1996-97 when its profits fell to Rs 88 lakh against Rs 72.36 crore during 1995-96 due to a shortfall of 2,800 million unit (MU) in the hydel power generation on account of deficient monsoons during most of 1996. KPCL has projected power generation at various hydel power plants during 1997-98 which amounts to 9,146 MU compared with 6,735 MU during 1996-97.
A grand total of 14,686 MU of power has been targeted by KPCL compared with 11,891 MU generated during the previous year. Projections of power generation by individual hydel and thermal power plants have also been worked out by the corporation and these have been approved by the Central Electricity Authority.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
