Kochi: Dam management by the Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd (KSEB) has failed yet again this year, with reservoirs holding thrice the emergency storage levels of water a day before May 31, when the current ‘water year’ ends. This much volume of water could be used to generate 1,542.465 million units of electricity. If the present rains persist for another three days, dams in the state will hold enough water to generate 2,000 million units of power, in place of the usual reserve storage of 500 million units.

Experts said that it is probably for the first time that dams in the state have been filled to this level at the beginning of a water year (June 1 to May 31). They also warned that heavy rains in June could create a situation similar to the massive floods of 2018.

Meanwhile, the KSEB authorities have started releasing water from minor dams after power consumption declined and inflow of water to dams increased. Every year, KSEB stores water sufficient to generate 500-600 million units of power in dams as a reserve till May 31 considering the possibility of a late onset of the southwest monsoon.

However, power consumption during summer did not increase as expected this year and the southwest monsoon set in early, leading to the present situation in dams. Currently, dams in Kerala are filled to 37-percent of their capacity, which is much higher than the normal 14.5 percent.

Experts pointed out that water level in dams witnessed an uncontrolled rise during the first days of the monsoon itself as the KSEB failed to increase generation of electricity even after noticing a reduction in power demand and consumption in May. Making things worse, the KSEB purchased power from outside the state without utilizing the reserve water in its dams to the maximum.

Incidentally, power consumption did not reach the predicted levels in May, when  was expected to peak. Instead, the highest demand this year was witnessed on March 20, when 5,347 megawatts was consumed.