THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Power minister Aryadan Muhammed might have ruled out power curbs for the rest of the UDF term but a weak southwest monsoon is gradually undermining the comfortable power position achieved by KSEB Limited this year because of a host of favourable factors, including a drop in crude prices.
By the middle of July, daily consumption had surged to summer levels of 63-64 million units, considerably more than last year. In July 2014, the average daily consumption was 53 MU.
More worryingly, hydel generation has been stepped up to levels that could witness a dangerous dip in reservoir levels. For a good part of 2015,
KSEBL had managed to restrict its hydel generation to below 20 MU.
However, right from the first week of July, when southwest monsoon turned dangerously anaemic, hydel generation had been cranked up to nearly 30 MU. As of now, there is a 28 per cent deficiency in southwest monsoon.
The deficiency has been especially acute in the last few days, during which rainfall has virtually stopped across the state. The consequent increase in consumption has forced KSEBL to step up hydel generation.
The water level in the state’s reservoirs, as a result, has started to drop. “Had it been any other year, the power minister would not have dared to rule out power curbs,” a top KSEB official said.
Fortunately for KSEBL, purchase from costly stations have been limited to a relatively insignificant 0.32 MU; last year same time, it was nearly 5 MU. Better still, it sources nearly 50 per cent of its needs from cheap central generating stations.
