'Limited power restrictions' will be imposed daily in Kerala between 6 pm and midnight till June 30 as a consequence of an El Niño-induced change in power consumption across the country. The restrictions have been in place from June 16.

El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon that will cause warmer-than-average surface temperatures over the central and eastern tropical Pacific. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), El Niño is often associated with above-normal temperatures across India. This leads to a sharp rise in electricity consumption, particularly due to increased use of air conditioning and cooling systems, putting additional stress on the country’s power grid infrastructure.

During this early monsoon stage in Kerala, power shortage has coincided with the time when Kerala has to return the power it had borrowed from other states in swap deals. It is during monsoon, when consumption slows down, that KSEB Limited finds the spare power required to honour its debts.

During the monsoon, power consumption generally drops. Last year in June, the daily consumption had fallen to 80 million units a day. This year, however, the June consumption has not not fallen significantly. It still hovers around 92-92 million units, which is at least 10 million units more than normal.

Daily demand during peak hours in Kerala is also high, over 4700 MW. On June 2, it was 4969 MW, the highest for a monsoon month. On June 16, it was 4892 MW. Last June, it was just about 4000 MW. KSEBL, too, had anticipated a daily peak-hour demand of only 4100 MW. 

Internal generation in Kerala is just a fraction of what is required. On June 16, for instance, the total internal generation was just 616 MW. From central generating stations, Kerala received 1700 MW. And from long-term contracts, 612 MW. The shortfall is over 1000 MW.

"To make up for the shortage, KSEBL tried to enter into DEEP (Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price) contracts to procure short-term and medium-term power to make up for the shortage. But we failed," a top KSEBL official said.

In an official statement, KSEBL said that there would be a daily shortfall of 900 MW between June 16 and 30. "The availability from power exchanges, too, have shrunk by 5 per cent," the official statement said. "As a result of these factors, slight restrictions will have to be put in certain parts of the states between 6 p.m. and midnight from June 16," the statement said.

Power minister Sunny Joseph had called an urgent meeting of high officials in Thiruvananthapuram today. The KSEBL official statement said that the minister had directed officials to secure power as much as possible from daily exchanges. The meeting also authorised KSEBL to put in place "minor curbs" to ensure grid stability.