BENGALURU: Just a few days after the government launched the Gruha Jyothi scheme, where domestic consumers get free electricity up to 200 units, the state experienced a severe shortage of power.
Matters became worse in October when the government announced five hours of staggered power supply to irrigation pumpsets of farmers.
To manage the situation, the state government invoked Section 11 of the Electricity Act, mandating private power producers to sell power only to the state. Further, the government purchased power at the rate approved by the Karnataka Electricity Regulation Commission (KERC). The state also started purchasing power from the grid at Rs 6.66 per unit.
To meet the power deficit, it entered into barter agreements with Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to procure 700 MW and 300 MW of power, respectively.
To address the immediate crisis, Energy Minister KJ George rushed to Delhi in October and November to meet the Union ministry and raise concerns over coal shortage and inadequate supply from the grid to the state. The energy department made a presentation to the Central government to create dedicated green energy corridors and to build transmission infrastructure to facilitate bulk power transmission from green-hydrogen-related renewable energy projects. The demand was made to make the most of Karnataka’s solar and wind power generation.
As per government records, the state generates 31,905.61MW of power, of which 3798 MW is from hydro resources, 5,020 MW from thermal, 4,337.13 MW is generated from CGS sources, 5,250.19 MW of wind energy and 8,079.34 MW of solar energy.
To address power shortage, the energy department urged farmers to solarise their pump sets, for which schemes were launched and tenders called for. The department decided to decentralise solar power generation and not depend only on Pavagada solar panels for renewable energy. It proposed to the state government to acquire government lands near grids at the cost of Re 1 per acre to set up solar panels.
Though George had announced that there would be no power cuts for domestic and industrial consumers, it was not the case. Throughout 2023, consumers and experts criticised the government for cutting power in the guise of maintenance. The government and KERC also came under attack for hiking fixed charges and fuel and adjustment charges once every three months, making the tariff per unit the highest in a decade.
The common thread of criticism was that those consuming over 200 units of power and industries were made to bear the burden of financing the Gruha Jyothi scheme.
In December, as the year neared its end, energy department officials said the situation had stabilised, but cautioned that consumers would have to face power cuts in the coming days, with changing temperatures, rising demand and deficit generation.
Government agencies also came under fire for the slow pace of work in dealing with overhead power lines and cables. The state government and Bangalore Electricity Supply Corporation Limited had to cut a sorry figure especially after a mother-daughter duo was electrocuted near Hope Farm in Bengaluru in November. Even as the government aggressively announced stern action against those responsible for dangling overhead wires and cables, it fizzled out as the year-end neared, only ending in awareness campaigns.
POWER PLAY