KOCHI: KSEB pulled the fuse of Kochi Municipal Corporation's regional office over electricity bill arrears. KSEB pulled the fuse of the Kochi Corporation office in Fort Kochi. The arrears are about two lakh rupees.

The Kochi Corporation informed that it has been instructed to restore the electricity connection by paying the money as soon as possible. Kochi Mayor M Anil Kumar stated that the reason for not paying the bill was not due to lack of money but due to technical problems.

Meanwhile, electricity consumption in the state is at a record high due to temperature and heat wave. Power Minister K Krishnankutty had recently said that electricity consumption should be reduced, otherwise, it will lead to a severe crisis.

Daily consumption had crossed 110.1 million units recently. The minister clarified that there will be no load shedding in the state soon and the unannounced power cut is not intentional but is due to excessive consumption. Complaints were raised from users earlier that unannounced load shedding is being implemented in the state. The complaint is that there is a power cut for more than half an hour in many places between 6 pm to 12 pm. However, KSEB has requested the government for load shedding.

In case of a power shortage, expensive electricity generated from imported coal will have to be purchased. It has to be paid in advance. If not brought at a fixed rate, the loss will increase. KSEB overcomes the crisis by increasing hydropower generation. Production was increased from 13-16 million units per day to 21 million. With this, the water storage in the power dams has reduced from 53 percent to 43 percent. If this continues, the hydropower generation will not be sustainable until the next monsoon. Hence, the situation is that controlling the consumption is an urgent necessity. KSEB states that the supply of electricity has not been restricted and there is no interruption in supply since 21 substations have been constructed in two and a half years.