High power usage may lead to outages: KSEB

Kochi: Increased power consumption is a cause of concern for KSEB authorities as they fear power outages in the city in the coming days. As of now, KSEB has managed to avoid power outages as the utility succeeded in taking precautionary measures, but if the consumption goes up further, it may lead to a crisis.According to KSEB officials, the utility could replace 100kV and 160kV transformers in various parts of the city with transformers having enhanced capacity. In the past couple of years, the number of consumers using air-conditioners and electric vehicles (EV) has gone up significantly. It is from 6pm-12 midnight that the consumption reaches its peak in Kochi. When a significant number of consumers start using ACs and EVs during the night, the consumption will go up significantly at one go. This will lead to the failure of transformers in the area leading to power outages. Taking a cue from previous years' experience, KSEB enhanced the capacities of transformers in various locations. Still, the system may fail if consumption goes up further, especially due to the use of induction cookers caused by LPG shortage. "A couple of transformers in the city failed due to excessive power consumption in the city in the past few days. As we already enhanced the capacities of the transformers in the city, there may not be a crisis unless there is a big surge in the consumption," a KSEB official said. "We are expediting the work on the feeder line from Edappally to Cheranellore. Once the feeder line is completed, the issues in those areas can be resolved. But the work has only progressed up to around 2.5-km of total 6km," the official added. Similarly, the work on feeder line to Vennala area is facing hurdles as National Highway Authority of India didn't give nod for digging up the road for laying underground cables. "Now, we are planning to use aerial bunched cables (ABC) for the feeder lines. We expect that the laying can be done without much delay. Once the work is over, the power disruptions in Vennala area can be resolved," KSEB officials said.