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KSEB to launch incentive scheme

Author: Tiki Rajwi

Published Date: Jul 27, 2009 12:26 AM

Last Updated: May 15, 2012 10:48 PM

The KSEB has proposed penalties to discourage peakhour use and promote off-peak hour
consumption.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hoping to slash industrial power consumption during peak hours, the KSEB has
proposed penalties to discourage peakhour use and promote off-peak hour consumption.

The KSEB also plans to extend Time Of Day (TOD) billing for industrial consumers in the Low Tension (LT)
category.

A proposal in this regard has been included in the petition submitted to the State Electricity Regulatory
Commission for hiking power tariff in the state.

Under the TOD method, the billing depends not just on the volume of consumption, but also the time of
consumption.

The KSEBs idea is bring down peak-hour use by prompting industries to switch to offpeak hours by imposing
penalties and offering incentives.

For TOD billing, a day has been divided into three time zones: peak hours - between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.; off-peak
time - between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; and normal time - between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

High Tension/Extra High Tension consumers using more power during off-peak hours stand to get an incentive of
ten percent reduction in the normal tariff in energy rates. They will be slapped with a penalty of 30 percent
increase over normal tariff for consumption during peak hours. Likewise, in demand charges, a 15 percent
reduction during off-peak hours and a penalty of 40 percent increase during peak hours have also been proposed.

The KSEB has been billing the HT/EHT consumers under TOD facility at a differential pricing scheme since 1998.
The power utility has now proposed a rationalisation of the TOD pricing for this category as the present system is
``complex, confusing and needing simplification. And, as a first step towards introducing TOD facility for LT
industrial consumers, the KSEB is targeting LT industrial consumers with a connected load above 50 kW.

2900 of a total 1.25 lakh LT industrial consumers fall in this category.

So, LT Industrial consumers with connected load above 50 kW stand to get a ten percent reduction in energy
charges on normal tariff for switching to off-peak hours, and a penalty of 20 percent over normal tariff for
consumption during the peak hours. The energy rates proposed are as follows: the present energy rate of Rs 3.25
per unit for consumption during the normal time; Rs 2.93 per unit for off-peak hours, and Rs 3.90 per unit - 20
percent above the normal rate - for the peak hours.

In addition to the energy charges, the KSEB has proposed an incentive of 15 percent reduction in demand
charges for offpeak consumption and a penalty of 20 percent for consumption during peak hours. The consumers
have to bear the cost of installing the TOD meters. Peak hour consumption is about double that of the average
off-peak hour use, according to the KSEB. ``It means that 50 percent of the capacity in the system is kept idle for
about 18 to 20 hours a day. Such a consumption pattern is not favourable for a healthy power system.

Capacity addition, strengthening of transmission and distribution system etc for such a system is difficult, the
KSEB has noted.

Copyright 2012 The New Indian Express. All rights reserved.

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