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• Power regulations are back. From Monday, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), which was given a go-ahead by the Cabinet on Wednesday, will introduce 30-minute load shedding twice a day between 5am & 9am and 6.30pm and 10.30pm.With the introduction of cyclic one-hour load shedding (30 minutes in the morning and evening), KSEB will be able to save 2 million units of power. In economic terms, this roughly translates into Rs 1.5 crore a day or Rs 45 crore a month. Apart from the half-an-hour capsules for domestic consumers, the KSEB wants industrial and commercial power consumers to limit their consumption to 80% of their present average monthly consumption.

• Since the cost of power from Kayamkulam NTPC is Rs 11 per unit, the board would charge the industrial and commercial consumers the same amount for the power consumed beyond the 80% mark."'The commercial and industrial consumers will be given a conditional option allowing them to draw the same unit of power they now use for a higher price for the excess usage," KSEB chairman T M Manoharan told TOI."These options are under serious consideration. But we will initiate the next step only if we fail to source more power from the central pool within a day or two," he added. The state government, meanwhile, has authorised the power minister and KSEB to take a suitable decision to find a solution to the power shortage. "We are trying to get more power from the Centre," said CM Oommen Chandy. The CM said "water level in dams is alarmingly low. Despite generous help from the Centre, there is acute power shortage. The situation is worse in other states".

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