Kerala Electricity Board Proposes Premium Green Energy Tariff At Rs 2.5/kwh 

The Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) recently proposed a premium green energy tariff for power consumers who want to purchase renewable power on demand. In its communication to the State Electricity Commission, the board has proposed a premium tariff of Rs 2.543 per Kilowatt-hour for the supply of clean energy to power consumers in Kerala.  

In its letter to the Commission, the board said that the permitted purchase of renewable energy in the state was Rs 3 per unit, while fossil-fuel power stands at Rs 2.91 per unit. The two energy sources had a marginal purchase cost difference of Rs 0.81 per KwH.

The board, in its calculation, used Rs 0.81 per unit of this marginal cost, banking/storage cost at the rate of Rs 1.523 per KwH, and cost of backing down of conventional generators to absorb renewable power at the rate of Rs 0.21/unit. The cumulative cost of adding all these factors was around Rs 2.543 per unit. The KSEBL proposed this rate to the Commission as a ‘green tariff.’ 

“KSEBL is proposing a Green premium tariff of Rs 2.543/kwH. The proposed green tariff is a premium charge over the existing retail tariff, and all other charges, as approved in the KSERC tariff order, shall apply to respective consumer categories. This Green tariff shall be revised annually on a petition by KSEBL. Further, Green tariff being a new category, it is not possible to ascertain the number of consumers who may opt for this tariff category,” the letter from KSEBL said. 

The letter from KSEBL also said that the consumer who wanted to opt for a green tariff needed to apply to the KSEBL. It said that the consumers opting for green tariff must avail it for at least one year. “Therefore, it is not possible to quantify the sales quantum under this category presently., However, KSEBL will capture and present the impact of this new category during the truing ip of FY 2023-24.,” it said. 

KSEBL clarified that this premium tariff would be levied for green energy consumers over and above the retail supply tariffs of respective categories of consumers during the period 2023-24.