Basu Trips High Voltage Seb Ad On Cesc Default

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has intervened to prevent the publication of a high-voltage media advertisement by the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) that aimed to give details of bill amounts defaulted by CESC Limited.

Through the advertisement, the Board apparently intended to prepare the grounds for its decision to regulate the export of electrical energy to the CESC. The advertisement expressed regret to CESC consumers who might suffer from any harsh action by the WBSEB.

Basus intervention came hours before the two column, 10 centimetre, advertisement was to be printed in all the major Calcutta newspapers in the June 4 edition.

 

Sources said the CESC, which somehow got wind of the advertisement late in the evening of June 3, immediately swung into action and approached the Chief Minister. The RPG power utility reportedly promised to begin a dialogue with the Board shortly for clearing its dues.

The aborted advertisement had claimed that CESC, which draws 500 mw of power from the Board every evening to meet roughly 50 per cent of its peak demand, has been defaulting in its payment since October, 1975. The outstandings have resultantly snowballed into an alarmingly high sum of Rs 95.67 crore against the billing of Rs 578.76 crore in the 18-month period between October, 1995, and March, 1997.

CESC, which received bills to the tune of Rs 166.07 crore between October 1995 and March, 1996, left an amount of Rs 21.62 crore unpaid. The 1996-97 financial year saw a total billing of Rs 412.69 crore of which CESC failed to pay Rs 74.05 crore.

WBSEB had earlier, with some measure of success, resorted to the regulation of power supply to CESC to recover its dues. The Board has been threatening to take drastic action since the last few months.

CESC had applied to the West Bengal government for permission to increase its tariff which was last revised in November, 1996. The application was summarily rejected by the government.

CESC, apparently, is also unhappy over the rate of fuel surcharge that the government has allowed it to recover from its consumers. The company considers both the tariff structure and the fuel surcharge rates as grossly inadequate to meet its expenditure and ensure the rate of return permitted under the Electricity Act.

However, with the government apparently turning a deaf ear to its pleas and the WBSEB breathing hard over its neck to cut supply, the RPG power utility may face a long summer of discontent and difficulty.

It may have been successful in seeking the Chief Minister intervention to stop the Boards advertisement, but a fresh round of power regulation may not be far away.