KSEB announces new service connection charges: For 67% households in Kerala it will be ₹2000

Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEB) on Wednesday officially announced the revised connection charges of power consumers in the state.

Here are the new rates. LT single phase (domestic) up to 2 kilowatt (kW) - ₹2,000 per connection. LT single phase up to 1 kW for categories other than domestic - ₹2500. LT single-phase service connection above 1 kW up to 2 kW for categories other than domestic - ₹3000.

LT single-phase service connection above 2 kW and up to 5 kW for all categories - ₹5000. LT three-phase service connection above 5 kW up to 7 kW for all categories - ₹8000. LT three-phase service connection above 7 kW and up to 10 kW - ₹10,000.

Conversion of existing service connection (applicable for conversion of single phase to three phase without any change in the connected load) - ₹700.

It is for the first time that KSEB has evolved simplified average per kVA/kW rates, which is nothing but the cost KSEB heaps on consumers for the trouble it takes to provide the connection. Till now, the charges - labour, materials and other overhead expenses - were calculated separately for each connection.

Kilowatt (kW) refers to the total power capacity of a household. One kW or 1000 watts, therefore, is the sum of all the watts consumed by the bulbs, fans, fridge, heaters and mobile chargers in the house. A standard home refrigerator, for instance, consumes 300-800 watts. A typical phone charger consumes 10-20 watts.

An analysis carried out by KSEB's Distribution Core Committee showed that only 3.08 per cent of the service connections had connected loads exceeding 10 kW. Nearly 91 per cent had connected loads up to 5 kW, 76 per cent of consumers had connected loads below 3 kW, and 67 per cent had connected loads up to 2 kW.

According to KSEB, the proposed rates are based on the analysis of a large database of actual service connections and associated expenditure, and are intended to reflect the reasonable average cost of different classes of connections rather than the cost of each individual connection, which incidentally was the practice till now.

Though KSEB claims to have reduced the charges, it had actually proposed a slab rate of ₹2,500 for domestic LT service connections up to 1 kW and ₹3,000 for service connections above 1 kW and up to 2 kW. Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission had disapproved of it and brought it down to a flat rate of ₹2000 for domestic service connections up to 2 kW.

The KSERC's reasoning for refusing to go with the KSEB's demand was that a substantial number of domestic service connections provided under Central and State Government-aided housing schemes, including the LIFE Mission housing scheme, fell within this connected load range (up to 2 kW).

Nonetheless, the new costing mechanism has its advantages. One, since kW rates reflect average cost, it eliminates the need for traditional field surveys and case-specific estimation. It is expected to significantly reduce the time required for processing applications, from weeks to a matter of hours.

Two, transparency. Standardised, load-based charges instil greater transparency and can easily facilitate an online application and payment process.

Three, quicker connections. Pre-determined per kW rates would streamline administrative processes and facilitate faster release of electricity connections. It would also do away with variations arising from location-specific estimation practices and establishes uniform treatment of consumers.