Cabinet for one-hour load shedding in state

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cabinet on Wednesday decided to impose one hour load shedding in the state. The one hour duration will be split into two half an hour periods. The first half will be between 6 am and 5 pm and the next one will be between 6.30 pm and 10.30 pm.

Electricity Minister Aryadan Muhammed said the decision was taken against the backdrop of low water level in major reservoirs and cut down of power from central pool.

The decision was taken after KSEB recommended load shedding as it was suffering a daily loss of over Rs. 10 crore.

After revealing the decision in a press conference, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said one-hour load shedding was imposed to tide over acute power crisis in the state.

If the Electricity Regulatory Commission permits, load shedding will be imposed on Thursday itself. The KSEB would approach the commission on Thursday to discuss on this.

About 2 million units of electricity could be saved per day if load shedding is implemented. But KSEB says this, however, will not completely solve the problem.

Those domestic customers who use more than 200 units of power per month will have to pay higher tariff. Industrial customers will be provided with 75 percent of the power they use presently. The amount equal to that spend by KSEB to buy power will be levied for the remaining 25 percent.