KOCHI: Struggling to meet the spiralling power demand this summer, Kerala now has more reasons to worry. The daily power consumption in the state has crossed 100 million units, indicating the need for urgent measures to ensure the availability of power in the coming days as political parties hit the campaign trail.
At 10.40 pm on Monday, the state also set a new record of 5031 megawatts (MW) for peak consumption. The previous record of 5024MW was registered on April 19 last year.
While the daily power consumption crossed the 100-million units mark for the first time in the state on April 13, 2023, the record consumption of 102.99 million units was registered on April 19.
This year, the state’s power consumption — which normally hovers around 75 million units — crossed 90 million units in the first week of March itself as the state has been experiencing sweltering heat from the second week of February.
“There has been a shift in power usage as middle-class families which used to rely on fans to escape the summer heat have started installing air conditioners. We expect a steep rise in consumption in April as political parties will be campaigning aggressively. We are exploring possibilities of short-term agreements to get more power,” a senior officer with KSEB told TNIE.
Explaining the steps taken to meet the rising demand, the officer said the KSEB purchased 5.47 million units of power from the real-time market at Rs 10 per unit on Monday. An additional 1.21 million units was purchased from the day-ahead energy market. The day-ahead market is a physical electricity trading market for deliveries for 15-minute time blocks in 24 hours for the next day.
Besides, the KSEB has entered into a monthly contract with the power exchange to purchase 6.34 million units daily. Hydel power generation has been regulated between 14 and 19 million units per day, conserving storage for April and May. Power generation at hydel units stood at 19 million units on Monday. The KSEB is purchasing maximum power from the national grid at low rates ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 2 during the off-peak hours at night.
“KSEB will be able to manage the demand in March with the current arrangements. But we will have to make some additional arrangements to meet the demand in April and May,” said KSEB transmission and planning director Saji Poulose.
No power cut soon
According to a KSEB official, the board currently has no plans to impose restrictions on power consumption
Daily power consumption in Kerala (in million units)
March 7 96.98 MU
March 8 95.53 MU
March 9 96.54 MU
March 10 91.07 MU
March 11 100.06 MU
Record power consumption this year
100.06 MU on March 11, 2024
All-time record
102.99 MU on April 19, 2023
There has been a shift in power usage as middle-class families which used to rely on fans to escape the summer heat have started installing air conditioners
- A senior KSEB officer
New record in power consumption:
5031 MW, at 10.40 pm on March 11, 2024
Previous record:
5024 MW on April 19, 2023
