No thermal surcharge for power use upto 120 unit

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KSEB on Monday issued orders exempting domestic consumers with monthly consumption up to 120 units from the purview of the thermal fuel surcharge which the KSEB began collecting from April 1.According to the KSEB, it decided to exempt a section of the consumers as the State Government had set apart Rs 50 crore for meeting the revenue shortfall on account of exempting domestic consumers with monthly consumption up to 120 units from paying fuel surcharge at 20 paise per unit with effect from April 1, 2012.KSEB issued the original orders for imposing the surcharge in March. At the time, only those domestic consumers having consumption less than or equal to 20 units a month and  connected load of less than or equal to 500 W were exempted.The State Electricity Regulatory Commission had allowed the KSEB to collect 20 paise per unit as surcharge for recovering the additional amount spent on buying power from outside the state during April-September 2011.The surcharge was applicable to all consumers and bulk consumers for six months from April onwards or until Rs 161.60 crore is realised by the Board, whichever is earlier.