With Kerala’s power supply sources becoming scanty, more power restrictions seem to be imminent in the State.
The half-an-hour cyclic load-shedding during morning and evening (between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m.) and the bid to curtail power use by switching off rural feeders during daytime since April 1 do not seem to have yielded the desired results.
Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) sources told The Hindu on Friday that the prevailing consumption rate of 60 million units a day has thwarted the plans to reduce the generation in hydroelectric stations. It is proposed to bring down the generation from 21 mu to 12 mu a day. Currently it ranges between 13 mu and 15 mu.
The power supply from Odisha is unlikely to improve as the dispute between the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Coal India over the quality of coal being supplied to the generating stations there continues to remain unresolved.
The shortage of natural gas in Andhra Pradesh has hit the supply from the southern region. The supply of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin to power generating units has been completely stopped. The shortage has affected the supply from power traders and exchanges. The fuel shortage in Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply Company (BSES) Kerala Power Limited, Kochi, which supplied 165 MW has further worsened the situation. The company is understood to have reduced generation to 100 MW during the past one week due to fuel shortage. Though the State is eligible to draw 26 mu from the Central generating stations, it could get only 21 mu.
Unlike the curbs imposed on supply by switching off the rural feeders from April 1, the KSEB will have to secure the consent of the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission and the government for enforcing further restrictions, the sources said.
