Holding the latest bi-monthly power bill could have induced in most consumers the emotional equivalent of getting subjected to high voltage electric shock. In many cases, the bill had shot up steeply, even 40 times, from normal.
Kerala State Electricity Board has already received one lakh complaints. More than double the number is likely suffering in silence.
In most of the cases, the reason is evident: hyper-consumption during the lockdown. Everyone was at home and it was Sunday all day for over two months; fans, AC, television, and computers were made to function almost round the clock. It also did not help that it was uncomfortably hot during April and most of May.
Assumption deficit
Then, there was a problem with what is now called the 'lockdown assumption'.
Since there was a lockdown, and meter readers could not visit houses during March and April, the KSEB assumed that household consumption would adhere to the normal and prepared the February-March bill using these assumed meter readings.
But when meter readers finally got to visit houses in June, it was found that the KSEB was too kind, the actual readings were far higher. This additional money had to be collected and this amount found its way into the April-May bill, making it look worse than exorbitant.
Migration to higher slabs
It is now estimated that over-consumption could have pushed nearly 50 per cent of consumers to higher tariff slabs. For instance, households that on an average consumed less than 150 units a month could have been sucked up into the upper slab of 151-200 units a month, inviting higher tariffs.
However, any increase in consumption below 250 units would not hit the consumer hard, the increase in tariffs will not sting. But if monthly consumption breaches the 250 unit mark, the tariff could virtually explode.
Benevolent tariff slabs
This is because of the duality in tariff fixation. Till 250 units, the tariff fixation can appear benevolent. There are five monthly consumption slabs till 250 units: 0-50 (Rs 2.90 per unit), 51-100 (Rs 3.70 per unit), 101-150 (Rs 4.80 per unit), 151-200 (Rs 6.40 per unit) and 201-250 (Rs 7.60 per unit).
For all these lower slabs up to 250 units, KSEB has adopted what is called 'telescopic tariffs'. This means when the tariff is calculated, each unit of power consumed will have differential rates, designed to bring down the average cost.
Take for instance a household that has consumed 230 units. The first 50 units will be charged at Rs 3.15 per unit, the next 50 at 3.70 per unit, the next 50 at Rs 4.80 per unit, the next 50 at 6.40 per unit, and the remaining 30 at Rs 7.60 per unit.
So for a household consuming nearly 250 units a month, bringing the lower tariffs into the calculation will bring down the average cost.
Losing the telescopic advantage
As per official pre-COVID KSEB figures, nearly 90 per cent of domestic consumers use only up to 250 units or fall within the first five
consumption slabs. Post-COVID it is estimated that at least 30 per cent would have unthinkingly burst above the 250 level, foregoing their 'telescopic' advantage.
A household using more than 250 units a month will not get the benefit of lower tariffs for the initial units consumed. It will be charged a single ruthless flat rate.
Let us take a scenario where a household that normally consumed 250 units a month is seen consuming 251 units during the COVID-19 period. In the pre-COVID phase, when average consumption was 250 units, the energy charges were calculated in an incremental manner; Rs 3.15 for the first 50 units, 4.80 for the next 50, 6.40 for the next 50 and 7.60 for the last 50. All of this adds up to Rs 1097.50.
Now, see what happens in the COVID-19 phase when the household clocks an average consumption of 251 units. The household will fall in the 0-300 units slab with a flat rate of Rs 5.80 per unit. The energy charges will now work out to Rs 1455.80.
Just an additional unit above 250 has pushed the energy charges up by nearly Rs 360.
KSEB source said not only have sub-250 unit users fallen into the non-telescopic bracket but virtually all middle-class households that were in the 0-300 units have also found themselves in higher slabs 0-350 (Rs 6.60 per unit) or 0-400 (Rs 6.90 per unit) or 0-500 (Rs 7.10 per unit) or even above 500 units (Rs 7.90 per unit).
Fixed charges that ceased to remain fixed
It is not just the energy charges that go up with higher consumption, fixed charges also climb up.
Till July 2019, when power tariffs were last revised, all consumption slabs had a single fixed charge. For single-phase connections, it was Rs 30 and for three-phase, it was Rs 80. But from July last, fixed charges were linked to consumption; it was no more fixed, it swelled with use.
Even the lowest single-phase fixed charge, for the 0-50 units slab, of Rs 35 is higher than the earlier single-phase fixed charge for all slabs. A below-normal single-phase consumption of 160 units a month will now invite a fixed charge of Rs 80; so for two months, Rs 160.
KSEB's unpardonable assumptions
While it is obvious that consumption had gone up during the lockdown, KSEB will also have to account for some inexcusable assumptions it had made while generating bi-monthly bills.
Take for instance, the huge bill slapped on the house of filmmaker and actor Madhupal. No one was living in the house during the lockdown period but KSEB assumed normal consumption and kept supplying Madhupal exorbitant bi-monthly bills. The error has reportedly been fixed.
But a Rs 11,359 bill on a daily wager's house with just two bulbs and a television set at Rajakkad in Idukki beats all logic. KSEB now pins the blame on faulty earth wiring, suggesting a power leak that needs to be urgently fixed.
