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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct. 8

A MEETING of the State Cabinet of the Council of Ministers has put off by a day a decision on proposals for power tariff hike recommended to it by the Liaison Committee of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), the empowered political body for making policy formulations.

On Monday, the committee had finalised its proposals which would help the State Government mop up Rs 35 crore on the basis of a three-pronged strategy that revises tariff for domestic consumers across various slabs, provides for a nominal hike for industrial consumers and tinkers with the existing rates for commercial connections.

Alongside, it proposed measures for streamlining the functioning of the loss-making Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) leading to a saving of another Rs 20 crore "straight-away".

The following are the UDF recommendations:

A 25-paise hike per unit for domestic consumers with monthly power consumption of 1-40 units.

The existing tariff for this slab is 90 paise, which is being revised to Rs 1.15.

The incidental hike for consumers in this category would be Rs 10 on a base of 40 units.

A 50-paise hike for those consuming 41-80 units of power.

The new rates would be Rs 1.90 a unit as against the current rate of Rs 1.40.

The incidental hike for consumers in this slab would be Rs 30 on a base of 80 units.

A 75-paise hike for those consuming 81-120 units.The new rate would be Rs 2.40 a unit as against the existing rate of Rs 1.65.

The incidental hike for consumers in this slab would be Rs 60 on a base of 120 units.

A hike of Re 1 for all consumers accounting for more than 120 units of power a month.

A flat 50-paise hike for all industrial consumers.

No hike in charges for commercial connections.

All consumers would be eligible for subsidy under the relevant slabs and the earlier proposal for rationalisation of tariff stands cancelled.

Single-phase commercial connections would be levied Rs 50 as fixed charges per kw and three-phase commercial connections Rs 100 per kw.

LT 7A and 7D connection rates are being unified at Rs 5.60.

For LT 7B connections, tariff would go up from Rs 2.45 to Rs 3.50 per unit.

Both these proposals seek to correct some anomalies that have crept in during earlier tariff revisions.

The UDF committee has also recommended a major drive for replacing faulty meters in a time-bound manner.It made a case for legislation to declare power theft as a crime, and expressed the need to strengthen anti-theft squads.

As part of the attempts to curb transmission loss, meters would have to be installed at all important substations and transformer points.

Officials concerned would be held responsible for any supplies-and-billing inconsistencies.The Government would be free to bring legislation if necessary to achieve this purpose.

Other proposals related to collection of arrears, auction of scrap, computerisation of billing and revenue collection, better transparency in purchase and distribution of materials, scientific inventory management and a 10 per cent cut in administrative overheads.

Other proposals for expenditure cut include withdrawal of electricity subsidy given to KSEB employees in project areas, mainly those living in board quarters.A reward scheme has also been proposed for those helping the board officials tackle power theft.The UDF has suggested that 10 per cent of the total amount of theft detected be paid as reward.

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