KOCHI: With high temperatures making nights uncomfortably hot and power consumption growing alarmingly, the KSEB on Tuesday said it will be forced to impose load shedding unless the public cooperates to reduce consumption. The board said the power distribution network is breaking down unable to meet the growing demand. On Monday, the daily power consumption set a new record touching 113.15 million units, which is 10.16 million units above the maximum power consumption of 102.99 million units recorded on April 19, 2023. The peak load also set a new record as the maximum load touched 5,717 MW at 10.19 pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, irate consumers created a ruckus at the section offices of KSEB at Tirurangadi and Aluva on Monday night, questioning the staff over undeclared load shedding. The KSEB, however, said the outages are caused by the Automatic Demand Management System (ADMS) installed at 11 KV and 33 KV feeders which will cut off the power supply when the load exceeds the maximum capacity.
“To meet the rising demand we are purchasing power from the Day Ahead Market and Realtime Market. However, there is a shortage of power in the market as demand has risen across the country due to the summer heat. To avoid collapse of the grid due to over-drawing of power, the National Power Exchange has implemented the ADMS. If we draw more power than the allocated limit, the system will shut down at some of the sub stations. This is the reason for power outages at peak hours,” said KSEB director (Transmission and System Operations) Saji Poulose.
The KSEB said the staff are refusing to work on the night shift due to increasing incidents of protests at sub-stations in the name of power outages. “There will be only three staffers at a section office during night hours. They have to attend phone calls and go to the field to restore power connection in case of outages. But the protests put them under tremendous pressure and the staff say they are unable to handle the pressure,” said an officer.
He said the KSEB has lost more than 700 transformers due to overloading during the past three months. “The ADMS has been installed to avoid total failure of the grid. If we don’t control power consumption it will lead to a serious power crisis in the coming days. We have been urging consumers to use power judiciously between 7 pm and 2 am. We cannot avoid air conditioners, but can reduce the number of ACs at home, said the officer.
Peak load
Power consumption on April 29 - 113.15 million units
Peak load on April 29 - 5,717 MW at 10.19 pm
Record consumption in 2023 - 102.99 million units on April 19, 2023