The Central Electricity Regulatory Authority will soon take up for hearing a petition filed by the Kerala State Electricity Board against Power Grid Corporation of India.
This is even as public resentment over the unending power crisis in the State got reflected in the social media through ‘profile blackouts’ on Facebook.
The State Board has been protesting the central transmission utility’s refusal to allot to it the required ‘corridor’ to draw power using the inter-State transmission network.
The hearing has been scheduled for July 3, according to official sources. The Commission has instructed PowerGrid not to allocate the lines to anyone else until then.
The Board, which looks after demand and supply in a State currently undergoing a crunch situation, had sought permission to draw 1,939 MW from June.
But PowerGrid has allegedly sanctioned ‘corridor’ space for just 3 MW, a spokesman for the Board said.
POWERGRID STAND
Currently, 200 MW is all what Kerala is able to draw through the inter-state transmission network. PowerGrid has argued that the line is incapable of handling more.
But the spokesman said that a study commissioned by the Board had revealed that the line was capable of handling up to 436 MW.
The Board had been evacuating 200 MW under mid-term purchase agreements and a further 216 MW under short-term agreements until May.
The mid-term arrangement had expired in May and the ‘corridor space’ had not been allotted to any other entity so far.
The Board could not hope to do without its dependence on outside sources to bring in a major chunk of the electricity to meet the demand.
SOCIAL MEDIA PROTEST
Corridor space was essential for meeting the power demands, notwithstanding how strong the monsoons are.
Meanwhile, the call for the ‘profile blackout’ campaign on social media was given by FaceBook Cell International, a Left-leaning group, which selected Monday for the event.
Former minister in the Left Front government G Sudhakaran himself led the campaign by posting the previous midnight itself a squarish black space in place of his profile.
This went viral and the number of profiles opting for the blackout peaked to 80,000 by 9 pm, says Somakumar, a spokesman for FaceBook Cell International.