Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 25 (KNN)  The industry has raised concerns over Kerala's power situation which has worsened owing to non-availability of power from the thermal power supplier within the state and from outside sources.

According to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) water levels in the dam last week was just sufficient for 25 days of hydel generation at the current rate of 13.99 million units daily. 

With the available water in storage only 8 million units can be generated for 43 days, i.e., till the first week of June when the southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala.
After supply from the Central grid was restored partially, the average power received this month was 22.53 million units.  Further, from NTPCs Kayamkulam plant 7.82 mus are being purchased while 2.5 mus are generated from the KSEB’s own thermal units at Brahmapuram near here and Kozhikode, sources said.

Ernakulam district has been facing a shortage of 300 Mega Watt (MW) on an annual basis. As per the latest estimate of the KSEB, the average daily consumption in Ernakulam district, which homes about 1000 High Tension and Extra High Tension consumers, is around 12 million units.

It is the small units and industries that are the hardest hit owing to the power crisis, with adverse implications on their businesses.   With the cost of operation increasing for traders and manufacturers, it has a huge impact on the pockets of the smaller players in the market.

“The daily power requirement in the state is around 60 million units. In Ernakulam district the average consumption is 12 million units per day. Owing to restrictions on grid management we were forced to impose load shedding here as the majority of the industrial units are situated in the district. The KSEB also had some issues in getting power from the central pool. If the state fails to get rains on time the situation will worsen,” a media report quoting Chief Engineer, Distribution Central, KSEB, V V Sathyarajan, said.

KSEB sources said that the state has a capacity to generate only 838 million units of power as of now considering the level of water in various reservoirs. But the board has to maintain about 450 million units as reserve to meet any additional requirement.

Also, the KSEB officials were dicey about the problem being rectified in the near future and said, “Of the total requirement of 60 Million Units (MU), 12 MU is obtained from the hydel projects, 25 MU from central pool and the rest from various other sources. But the situation is vulnerable and since Ernakulam is the major consumer district the burden will be more here,” they said.

KSEB has withdrawn the half-hour morning load-shedding between 6 am and 9 am from April 18 and has made permanent the one-hour continuous load shedding, sector-wise, between 9 am and 5 pm.  This was a temporary measure taken by the KSEB.
 
Further, the evening cut between 6 pm and 10 pm will now be between 7 pm and 11 pm. 

Restrictions between 9 am and 5 pm were introduced on March 23, when there was a shortage of over 300 MW. On April 7, the board decided to extend the curbs till April 12. 
 
Now, it has decided to carry on with the 9 am to 5 pm curbs for an indefinite period following the lower consumption during the early morning hours and rise during the mid-day.
 
The whole of south India is currently facing a severe power crisis and there is acute power shortage in Andhra Pradesh.  The industry and domestic households are hit the hardest. (KNN)