For the last 10 years, policymakers have been sensitising the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission and the utilities on the need for a long-term proactive set of measures that will bring solutions that are lasting. Come summer, we have the usual concerns over short-term solutions that are only kneejerk reactions lacking any comprehensive sets of measures that are regulatory or voluntary in the nature of compliance.

Bangalore has an average connected load of no more than 1200 MW. But what causes the challenge for the utility is the surge in loads and peak demand primarily among the three sectors – domestic, commercial and industrial. Industry continues to claim 60 per cent of the energy demand, while commercial and domestic sectors evenly lay claim for the rest of the energy load.

The KERC has a critical role to play in offering great latitude and autonomy to energy utilities to be able to govern energy consumption with differential tariff that can deter wasteful consumption.

All energy experts understand that the need is to bust the daily energy spikes that occur in the peak load hours, which account for two chunks of time, in the morning and evening on any typical day.

How do you deter the energy consumer from indiscriminate use in these peak load hours? For example, how do you ensure air-conditioners in commercial and industrial sectors are not switched on during the peak load hours? How do we get consumers to be more responsible on the use of high-induction energy appliances like mixers- grinders, microwave ovens during peak load hours?

There is, therefore, a need for a combination of intelligent energy governance on both tariff and hours of use, and imparting awareness to energy users across the board on the need to share the pain of lack of energy.

Such awareness is not brought in easily. Consumers need to understand that there is no magic wand. We need to understand that energy is a resource that you can’t store. Therefore, we need to see how we can hand-hold the process together with BESCOM in a way that the peak load does not go beyond 1,500 MW on any given day.

From March, as the summer heat bears on, the peak load rises to 2,100 MW. We need to collectively act with responsible energy use and smart value engineering that KERC and BESCOM bring to the table.
Will we have another year of no proactive decisions? Time alone can tell.

CEO, BCIL is an economist turned eco-entrepreneur who has presided over projects on water, energy and green initiatives