KSEB plea unheeded as power consumption soars

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala may be passing through a power crisis at the moment, but the one-crore-plus consumers  of the KSEB appear to  have scarcely heeded the state-run power utility’s  plea to go soft on power consumption. With the south-west monsoon season over, daily consumption levels now remain steady over the 50 million unit (MU) mark. This month, the daily energy consumption has dipped below 50 MU units only once, on October 2, Sunday.  But Sundays are generally considered safe days by the KSEB as consumption is generally low. On all the remaining days of last week, consumption levels were more or less the same as those before the crisis hit on September 29.‘’Consumption is soaring. Usually we see such  consumption levels only during March-April,  the summer months,’’ Electricity Minister Aryadan  Mohammed said. The KSEB is frantically exploring the possibility of purchasing 600 MW from outside to fill the demand-supply gap.While the power utility has voiced its hopes that the night-time loadshedding can be withdrawn soon, the power situation continues to be precarious. The Telangana agitation could see a further  dip in supply from the  Ramagundam power plant in  Andhra Pradesh, the minister said.“We are getting around 200 MW now. But there is a fear that this could be cut down further. No coal mining is taking place because of the Telangana agitation. They are getting coal from outside. The KSEB is exploring all options to buy power from outside,’’ he said.