Senior industry representatives have expressed grave concern over the power restrictions imposed by Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission, saying that it will affect industrial units in the State.
The delegation led by P.Narayan, President of the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, met the Chief Minister and apprised him of the situation pointing out that the decision could lead to declaring industrial units sick or migration to other states, affecting the economic activity of the State.
As per the recent decisions taken by KSERC, all HT/EHT consumers in the State are restricted to 75 per cent of normal consumption up to May 31.
The delegation also informed the Chief Minister that the Commission had earlier approved a steep revision of more than 35 per cent with effect from July 2012. They pointed out that the current decision will in effect have an impact of more than 20 per cent increase in tariff as a whole and will go up more than 50 per cent if an industry has to maintain its level of production.
The delegation was of the view that there is a twin crisis in the State due to high cost structure of KSEB and the availability crisis created by a combination of faulty demand and supply management.
If this situation is not rectified immediately, they said that economic activity in the State will be seriously impacted. Major industries will close down or withdraw further investments and its ripple effect will decimate the other key sectors of the economy as well.