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Total energy consumption increased by 4.13 per cent in State

• The per capita power consumption in Kerala has gone up by 45.29 kWh in 2010-11, while the total demand-supply situation shows a deficit of 1,743.44 million units, according to the Economic Review 2011 released on Saturday.The per capita consumption of power went up to 519.29 kWh against a figure of 474 kWh the previous year. The total energy consumption in the State increased by 4.13 per cent from 13,971 to 14,547.9 MU.The energy requirement in Kerala up to March 31, 2011, was 17,739.51 MU.However, the power availability was only 15,996.07 MU, leading to a deficit situation. Capacity addition during the period was only 111.4 MW.

• Less than half the power availability was contributed by internal generation, with the rest coming from power savings and purchase from independent producers and co-generating stations.The annual energy sales went up to 14,678.14 million units, registering an increase of 630.39 MU. The revenue from the sale of power touched Rs.5,403.76 crore, an increase of Rs.453.16 crore.The review shows that the Kerala State Electricity Board has 28 hydel projects in the pipeline with a total installed capacity of 543.3 MW.

• While domestic consumers grew by 3.9 per cent to 80,63,039, low tension and high tension category consumers registered an increase of 9.99 per cent in 2010-11.The KSEB has managed to bring down its transmission and distribution loss to 16.09 per cent in 2010-11 from 17.71 per cent the previous year.Citing the baseline energy demand studies carried out by ANERT, the review puts the number of unelectrified houses at 2,03,694.Inadequate capacity addition, in house demand-supply gap, a supply scenario dominated by hydel power, negligible share of renewable energy, limited presence of independent power producers and co-generating stations, energy price volatility and insufficient incentives to promote energy conservation have been identified as major challenges in the power sector.

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