Mercury soars in Kerala with record power use of 100 mn units on Apr 17

Kerala has been experiencing searing heat for the past few days with Palakkad district recording the highest maximum temperature of 39.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

As the mercury rises, the daily electricity consumption in Kerala has touched 100.35 million units (mu) on April 17, a new record for the state as per the state electricity board.

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) said this was the third day this month that the consumption has crossed the 100 million units mark, a first in the history of the state.

Consumption crossed the 100 million unit mark for the first time on April 13, a senior KSEB official told PTI.

"Last year, the highest consumption was around 96 million units on April 28. That mark was crossed in the last week itself," the official said.

KSEB, however, said that even though the state was witnessing record consumption, the situation was manageable as electricity was available from the power exchange at affordable rate.

The official also said the wate