THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In what could be a solution to the surprise power shutdowns in the state during the scorching summer, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Saturday granted the KSEB permission to procure additional electricity to meet power requirements in the backdrop of high consumption.
Hearing KSEB’s petition, which mentioned that the state faces significant peak and average deficits during late April and early May, despite alternative power procurement arrangements, commission chairman T K Jose and member B Pradeep gave the nod for the same.
The commission approved KSEB’s proposal to procure up to 250 MW of power through the Day Ahead Contingency Market and Intra-day Market of exchanges for the remaining days of April and up to May 15.
The KSEB has also been instructed to set up a mechanism to monitor the daily power situation and submit day-wise details and the cost of procurement before the commission within one week of completion of the process.
The decision was taken by the commission considering that the average peak demand met during weekdays from the third week of April onwards was between 5,900 MW and 6,000 MW, and the night-time off-peak demand ranged from 4,500 MW to 5,000 MW.
The commission also noted that the KSEB needs to rely on the short-term market to meet electricity demand during peak hours.
The power issue also took a political twist in recent days with even Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan criticising the state government over the latter’s claims of “10 years of power-cut free Kerala” during election campaigning.
Daily usage
The KSEB has been instructed to set up a mechanism to monitor the daily power situation