In Kashmir winter, rising sales of inverters is posing a great problem

The J&K Valley's current peak power demand is 2,700 megawatts (MW) and the supply is 1,450 MW. (Photo via Pexels)

With the onset of winter, the Kashmir Valley goes through power outages for hours daily prompting people to go for alternative power sources to light their houses.

Every year in the month of October, the Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) comes up with a revised power curtailment schedule, plunging the Valley into darkness. For example, this year people in metered areas are subjected to 4.5 hours of daily power cuts and in non-metered areas, the cuts are more extensive, lasting up to 8 hours on a daily basis.

To mitigate the impact of power cuts mainly during the harsh winter, people purchase a wide range of power backups, mostly power inverters to light up their houses.

A number of top dealers selling power batteries and inverters in the Valley have logged three times more sales during winter, a 65 per cent increase compared to summer, as the temperature started to decrease in the valley.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of a cold wave while fog has also engulfed the region. During the previous week the minimum temperature recorded in Jammu and Kashmir summer capital Srinagar was 0.6 degrees Celsius and in Pahalgam, the temperature even plummeted to minus 3.0 degrees Celsius. Gulmarg being India’s winter wonderland also experienced its first snowfall of the season on November 10.

The demand for power inverters substantially increased between October and February, says Nisar Ahmad Baba, director of Alba Power Private Limited, one of Kashmir’s leading electric appliance dealerships. “We have been selling inverters and batteries since 1990 in Kashmir. The pesky power cost during winter leads to the increase in the sale of power inverters and the sale is three times higher than summer period.”

Similarly, Huzaif Mukhtar, a distributor of power inverters and batteries in Srinagar’s commercial hub Lal Chowk says, every year between October and January, more than 10,000 batteries and inverters are sold in Kashmir. “We are selling the inverters and batteries of multiple brands to hundreds of retailers in all the districts of the Valley. So far, this season, we have sold more than 5,000 battery and inverter units, and the sale is expected to increase in the coming months.”

Both in urban as well as rural areas, people spend their yearly savings on power inverters to use it as a backup energy source. “During winter, the days are shorter and nights are longer which means people spend most of the time inside their homes, which means mostly in darkness with the prolonged power cuts, and hence, the only option is to go for power inverters,” says Sartaj Ahmad from Mandoora village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Ahmad, 31, father of a 3-year-old toddler, says he had spent all the winters of his life in darkness and is finally planning to purchase an inverter.

People also use back-up energy from inverters for running energy-efficient home appliances, including washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions and computers.

Since the crop harvest season in Kashmir ends in November, people in rural areas, who mostly bear the brunt of prolonged power cuts, are compelled to spend the income from the sale of produce on inverters.

Mukhtar estimates that 60 per cent of sales are witnessed in urban areas of the Valley and rural areas register 40 per cent. Far-off villages remain in the dark during peak winter due to the damage in transmission lines and transformers, compelled to rely on candle light. “Batteries require electricity to get charged which isn't possible with prolonged power cuts,” says Mukhtar.

The Valley's current peak power demand is 2,700 megawatts (MW) and the supply is 1,450 MW. Kashmir’s power shortages stem from a host of factors, including inadequate infrastructure, transmission losses, and misuse of electricity. For example, the government figures reveal that during the last three years, Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department has borrowed power for over Rs 30,000 crore against Rs 9,410 crore revenue.

A senior technical official from JKPDD estimates that Union Territory loses Rs 3,400 crore yearly as a result of revenue shortfalls and distribution costs. “The current power cuts are obvious because the department has no money available to procure more electricity from external power distribution companies (discoms). Even last year, the government had to get a loan of Rs 31,000 crore to pay the electricity dues borrowed from outside.”

A retired KPDCL executive engineer says the current dispensation is not ready to purchase power at the cost of losses. “Despite losses, the previous regimes in J&K used to purchase power from outside J&K but the Lieutenant Governor administration is not interested to tread the same path. The government has given a clear message that consumers should get the meters installed and pay the power dues as per consumption.”

The senior engineer says, since 70 per cent power in India is generated through coal energy, the thrust is now upon renewable energy resources. “Generating power from coal energy is the death of environment. The focus is now clearly on hydroelectricity besides wind and solar energy to generate power in energy-deficit regions like J&K. The Himalayan region is one of the limited places in India to build hydropower with an estimated hydropower potential of 20,000 mw, of which 16,475 mw have been identified so far.”

Contrary to these claims Nadeem Qadri, an environmental lawyer at the Jammu Kashmir High Court and activist, says, the environment will always get hit when people use power ruthlessly. For example, he says, in J&K, much of the electricity is used without meters and checks due to which a huge amount of energy is used at the cost of environmental hazards. “There is no doubt that coal energy has severe implications on the environment but hydroelectricity is also not environmentally friendly. Over the past few decades, several power plants have been constructed on the banks of rivers in Jammu division. The bumper-to-bumper construction of dams have posed serious worries of ecological imbalance, impact on marine life, and man-made earthquake risks in an active high-seismic zone,” says Qadri.