THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Daily power consumption in the state is galloping and has crossed 70 million units by the middle of February. The highest daily consumption of the year, 72.23 MU, was recorded on February 16. Normally, consumption soars to such high levels only by the middle of March. Mean temperatures have gone up and consequently consumption has kept pace.
“It is clear that airconditioners and fans are put to increased use during peak hours,” a top KSEBL official said. However, the official said that the power situation was still under control. The reservoirs were nearly 65 per cent full, and the reservoirs have water to generate more than 934 MU units than last year. However, KSEBL has kept its daily hydel generation below 13 MU. Still, this is higher than the corresponding period last year. But last year, it was the failure of both the southwest and northeast monsoons that compelled the KSEBL to rein in hydel generation. “We wanted to conserve water for the summer of 2018, and we then also had no idea how the monsoon will play out in 2018,” the official said.
But for the frugal hydel strategy last year, the KSEBL had to pay through the nose. “Our power purchase costs had shot up last year,” the official said. The public utility had to shell out Rs 7-8 per unit to purchase at least 10 MU daily from outside. But this time, power purchase costs were dramatically controlled. The utility purchases less than one million units from outside. Nearly 50 MU are secured from central generating stations at an average cost of Rs 2-3 per unit. However, cranking up hydel production could put the KSEBL in trouble. Already, hydel production has far outstripped the inflow into its reservoirs. If the average daily hydel generation during February is 13 MU, the inflow is a paltry 2 MU. “If hydel generation is stepped up, we will go back to the 2016 situation when reservoirs virtually dried out,” the official said.
