The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) is not entirely convinced about the extent of the power crisis in the State.
The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has told the regulator that it would be forced to take a hit of Rs 10.37 crore on purchase of expensive energy from liquid fuel stations to meet the demand-supply gap.
The Commission has since reserved its orders on KSEB’s proposals for putting additional curbs on consumption, especially on high tension and extra high tension users.
A 30-minute evening load-shedding schedule came into operation in the State on Monday.
That the State energy utility was faced with a crisis situation emerged at a public hearing held at the KSERC office here on Wednesday.
While most consumer organisations and individual customers acknowledged the severity of the situation, they differed on the assessment of the extent of the crisis.
The high tension and extra high tension consumers protested at the way in which the KSEB was moving to ‘shift the entire burden of the crisis’ on them.
Meanwhile, the KSEB told the regulator that it expects a 21 per cent shortage in energy availability during April and May should the load-shedding schedule fail to curb demand effectively.
In a statement filed before the commission, the KSEB said the hydro-electric reservoirs in the State had enough storage to generate around 20.48 million units daily until May.
The daily consumption levels average around 50 to 60 million units, but had peaked at 62 million units in recent times.