Bengaluru: Is the Siddaramaiah government’s scheme for free power leading to record electricity consumption in Karnataka? Last Tuesday, more than two months after the launch of the scheme, the state recorded an 80 percent surge in power use.
The ‘Gruha Jyothi’ scheme, launched in August with an estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crore, is targeted at Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and covers over 50 percent of the state’s domestic power consumers (households). It guarantees up to 200 units of free power for more than 1 crore eligible BPL households in the state.
The government denies that the surge is due to the scheme, saying there are many other factors and noting that there has been an overall increase in power consumption. Experts agree, but admit that free resources are vulnerable to being used uneconomically.
Last Tuesday’s surge in demand was the biggest single-day spike in the country this year. According to data from the state’s power department, peak electricity demand for that day stood at 13,812 mega watts (MW), as against 7,647 MW on the same day last year.
Speaking at a press conference in Delhi last week, Karnataka Energy Minister K.J. George said power demand “has gone up to 270-280 MU (Mega Unit)/day compared to 150-160 MU the previous year during the same period”.
This is against the state’s total installed capacity of 32,000 (MW) — 26,000 MW generated by state-run Electricity Supply Companies (ESCOM) and the remaining by private entities. The total capacity refers to the amount of electricity that can be generated within the state or its assets.
This is no aberration. Government data indicates that the average power consumption in Karnataka has gone up by nearly 50 percent this year, turning what had been a power surplus into a deficit.
The Karnataka government has categorically denied to ThePrint that the Gruha Jyothi scheme has anything to do with this increased power consumption. Gaurav Gupta, additional chief secretary at the energy department, also said the state was meeting all its energy demands at the moment — through higher production, procuring power from the energy market and getting it from other states.
“There is no reason for any kind of despondency nor any kind of pessimism. Yes, it has been a challenge and we have met the challenge,” Gupta told ThePrint. But he also admitted that the rising demand was a “challenge”.
Energy experts including M.R. Srinivas Murthy, former chairman of the Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission (KERC), also believe that a detailed study is required to point out the cause for the sudden spike in demand, but acknowledge that free power leads to more indiscriminate use of electricity.
“Consumption demand goes up because of many reasons, there cannot be a single reason for it…You cannot conclude that free power leads to higher consumption,” he said, adding that there has also been a “spurt in industrial and commercial activity post-Covid-19”.
But he also said that “it’s a human tendency that if something is free, it’s less economically used”.
M.G. Prabhakar, an expert on energy and former KERC member, said, “When you give free power, people start buying more gadgets and appliances. They start buying cooktops (induction stoves) to offset the cost of gas cylinders. The government has made a promise it cannot keep.”
Regardless of the reasons for the spike in consumption, the power deficit could mean that the government will have to pay more to purchase power, adding to the state’s burden. “For non-paying consumers, the government will be called upon to foot the bill. To purchase more power for consumption, the cost could go up by Rs 5,000-6,000 crore by conservative estimates,” a senior government official, requesting not to be named, told ThePrint.
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Unmet demand
According to government data, there has been a 25 percent increase in power consumption in the state this year across the board — not only among domestic consumers but also from the commercial and industrial sectors.
The government lays the blame for this increased demand cautiously, attributing the shortfall to a poor monsoon and farmers’ consequential dependence on irrigation pump sets, and a “lack of capacity building in the last four years”, when the BJP ruled the state.
“Due to the lack of monsoon this year, the electricity demand of irrigation pump sets increased by 100 percent, and (that) of all other categories of consumers has increased by 25 percent,” George said at last week’s press conference, adding that the demand was “being efficiently managed with the available power”.
He further said that despite the spike in demand, the state has been able to supply five–seven hours of continuous electricity every day for farmers.
Data also shows that irrigation pump sets consumed 2,426 million units (MU) in September as against 958 MU in the corresponding month last year — a 153 percent increase.
As ThePrint previously reported, even before the Gruha Jyothi scheme was rolled out, the Karnataka government’s power subsidies for the agriculture sector came to over Rs 14,500 crore. The new scheme could force these up to more than Rs 31,000 crore.
Until now, Karnataka was considered a power surplus state, primarily due to its push for green and renewable energy. According to a report from the Reserve Bank of India last year, Karnataka’s total grid-interactive renewable power capacity was 15,463 megawatts (MW) — the highest of any state in India.
But such energy is subject to the vagaries of the weather and much of it isn’t available at night. According to the state energy department, more than 50 percent of installed capacity is “variable renewable energy (mostly solar and wind) of which full quantum generation will not be available”.
For instance, while the installed capacity of solar energy is 4,238 MW, this is available for only four-five hours during the peak daytime — that is, between 11 am to 4 pm — and sees a sharp decline for the rest of the day, officials told ThePrint.
Similarly, the installed capacity of wind power is 2,771 MW but poor monsoons have resulted in just around 600 MW being generated in the morning or evening hours, the officials said.
Then there’s hydropower, which forms a significant chunk of the state’s installed capacity. “Installed capacity (hydropower) is 3,798 MW. As the water level in the reservoirs is less than 50 percent due to poor monsoons, and since hydro needs to be conserved for the ensuing summer, hydro plants are operated at around 1300-1400 MW daily during peak hours,” George said in a statement last week.
According to the state government, Karnataka faced a 56 percent rain deficit in June, 29 percent in July, 73 percent in August, 23 percent in September, and 63 percent in October. With at least 216 of the state’s 227 talukas being declared drought-hit, the state government has sought Rs 17,901 crore as drought relief from the central government.
Plans to procure more power
While addressing reporters outside his residence in Bengaluru last Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Karnataka government was not only purchasing power from other states but also sourcing it from cogeneration units — units that generate electricity from industrial waste — at sugar mills. Additionally, private power producers in Karnataka have been mandated to supply electricity to the state.
The energy department says it has already set in motion plans to procure more power through a series of measures, including taking it on loan.
“The current high demand is being met with the purchase of power in the electricity market to an extent of 700-800 MW every day and getting power from Punjab (300 MW) and Uttar Pradesh (500 MW) under energy banking,” said Gupta.
“Energy banking” refers to storing and withdrawing of energy whenever needed.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)