Top level meeting today to decide on load shedding as power consumption soars

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A high-level meeting will be held today to discuss matters including load shedding due to the daily power consumption surging at an alarming rate following extreme heat. The meeting will be held at 11 am under the leadership of Power Minister K Krishnankutty.

Automatic load shedding is rampant across the state due to excessive power consumption. The government is planning to officially introduce load shedding in this situation. Automatic load shedding occurs through the control system installed in the grids in case of consumption beyond the limits of the distribution system. Although technically the feeders can be charged after five minutes, it will take at least half an hour to find out where it happened and restore power.

When load shedding is introduced, the employees stop the power supply at a predetermined time. 4500 megawatt is available for supply per day including generated in Kerala and imported. However, the current consumption is more than 5700 megawatts. Hydropower generation will also increase sharply and this is compensated by buying from outside at exorbitant prices.