The heat of the prolonged Telangana agitation is literally being felt far down to the south with the crippled coal logistics tripping power supply and triggering load shedding in Kerala.

The crisis is unprecedented in that it is for the first time after year 2002 that the State had unscheduled load shedding and had to be pressed even during day time, when the reservoirs are running to 90 per cent capacity as on September 30 when the southwest monsoon season drew to a close.

The withdrawal process is not yet complete leaving some moisture to linger in the atmosphere, which has only added to the humidity levels.

This has made life miserable for people in the northern districts affected mostly from the unscheduled load shedding.

And the worst part is that nobody is able to say when normalcy would return, least of all the public utility Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) or officials in the State Government.

Neither is the State Government able to enjoy the benefit of the enhanced reservoir levels that should normally be generating adequate power during this time of the year. This is because four generators at two of the largest hydro-electric stations, Idukki and Sabarigiri, are under repair. This has effectively switched off an estimated 300 MW which would have been available in the normal course.

This is a shocker, and is far beyond the worst case scenario that we could imagine for ourselves so soon after a good monsoon, sources in the KSEB told Business Line. They are trying to negotiate ‘relief supplies’ from a partially capable Talcher and Neyveli in Tamil Nadu.

A cash-strapped KSEB is hardly in a position to draw from the costly power sources available from its own backyard at the combined cycle Kayamkulam NTPC station or the Brahmapuram diesel power plant.

This is the context in which the night-time load-shedding between 6.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. is now being persisted with even during day hours.

According to the KSEB, there is shortage of 400 MW in the State’s daily share from the Central pool. But, according to the Department of Power, this could be as high as 514 MW.

While the Ramagundam thermal plant in Andhra Pradesh has been shut down due to blockade on movement of coal, there has been tripping at the Talcher plant in Orissa that will take ‘some time’ to get rectified, the Union Minister of Power, Mr K. C. Venugopal, said.

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