Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph Blames "El Nino" for Keralam's Power Crisis

Thiruvananthapuram: Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph has attributed the state's ongoing power shortage and load-shedding to the El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean — a claim that has raised eyebrows. The minister was responding in the Assembly to a question from MLA V Joy on how long the night-time load-shedding during peak hours would continue. The minister said the power crisis stemmed from rising atmospheric temperatures across the country caused by an intensifying El Nino effect, though he failed to give a clear answer on when the restrictions would end.

"The state had anticipated a peak power demand of 4,100 MW, but this rose to 4,900 MW as temperatures climbed, with daily consumption increasing by 10 million units. Kerala had borrowed power from other states in March and April, under an agreement to return it from June 14. Owing to this obligation, the state began returning the borrowed power from the 15th," the minister said.

He noted that although the monsoon arrived on schedule on June 1, the rains had not gained strength, so atmospheric temperatures had not come down. Water levels in dams have also dropped significantly. Despite drawing full power from internal generation (1,700 MW), the central share (1,701 MW) and long-term agreements (612 MW), the state has faced a shortfall of 900 MW per day between the 16th and 30th of this month.

"Given the current situation, the availability of power from power exchanges has shrunk to just 5 percent. It is because of this crisis that load-shedding had to be imposed in various parts of the state between 9 pm and midnight from June 16," Sunny Joseph said. However, MLA U R Pradeep pointed out that El Nino conditions had occurred in previous years as well, and that the then LDF government had managed to effectively tackle similar crises at the time.