Load index records abrupt increase
Consumption rate reaches 14,350 megawatts
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 2: The electricity load index recorded abrupt increase in consumption, coinciding with the backto-school season; as the consumption rate last Sunday reached 14,350 megawatts – 70 megawatts less than the highest load recorded on June 27 this year, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources from the Ministry of Electricity and Water.
Sources attributed the increase of electricity consumption to the opening of about 1,000 schools on Sunday; in addition to the return of a significant number of people to Kuwait. They expect the electricity load to continue increasing throughout the week until the temperature drops gradually.
Meanwhile, a financial report revealed that the ministry spent KD 563 million on projects in the last financial year – 86 percent of the total amount allocated for this purpose (KD 821 million).
In addition, Assistant Undersecretary for Electricity Distribution Network Eng Mutlaq Al-Otaibi told Al-Anba daily that the summer season is nearing its end as per the indicators – electricity load and weather.
Al-Otaibi disclosed that only two transformers caught fire this summer – a manifestation of the effectiveness of the policy to change transformers prone to fire with ones which automatically switch off once a fault occurs.
He explained transformers usually catches fire if the electricity load increases due to stronger electricity current in houses which sometimes happens without the ministry’s knowledge; hence, the extra load is not taken into consideration in terms of protecting transformers from malfunctioning and fire.
The number of transformers which caught fire in 2010 reached 13 and this number continued dropping after changing a significant number of transformers prone to explosion due to heavy electricity pressure.
A total of 7,261 transformers need to be changed – 1,457 in the Capital; 1,269 in Hawally; 591 in Mubarak Al-Kabeer; 860 in Jahra; 1,643 in Farwaniya and 1,441 in Ahmadi.