Case Study-Power Sector Adjusting to New Normal Global Environment

Electricity being the key to growth in any sector, whether it is Industry, Agriculture, Commerce, Research & Development, service sector etc., and its availability abundantly ensures the required contribution to the overall development of the country. Power being a volatile commodity, the production of electricity would be based on real time demand of power. The usage of electrical energy being continuous nature without any interruption, the service is classified as essential & 24X7. This makes the Power industry complex & different from other industries and considered to be most essential. The skewed generation of electricity demands fully redundant Transmission network so as to have fully reliable power round the clock. Hence Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electricity cannot be under lockdown at any point of time. COVID-19 pandemic again worsened the situation as the organizations in power sector are human resource intensive and the productivity of HR is curtailed due to the various restrictions imposed during the pandemic period. Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd. (KSEBL) the sole utility engaged in the Production, Transmission and Distribution of Power in the state of Kerala. Thus, in general the entire organizations in power sector have taken a new normal strategy and able to survive the Pandemic without affecting the service to the public at large. Union Government has declared funding support to various state Government based on some performance Indices calculated on specific focus areas in various sectors. In power sector Government proposed to monitor three areas like Reduction in Revenue Gap, Direct Benefit Scheme for the subsidy extended to farmers and Implementation of smart and prepaid metering. Thus, due diligence taken by the Government and the utility management, duly resonated by all stakeholders created the success story of managing the crisis contributed by COVID-19 pandemic.