Contrary to notions, the induction cookers can play a villain in the energy consumption of houses and state as a whole, if they are of inferior quality. And to make things worse, the lack of proper quality testing makes it easier for inferior products to flood the market.
Energy Management Centre (EMC), the designated agency to enforce Energy Conservation Act in the state and the planners for the KSEB have attributed the sudden increase in morning peak hours’ demand to widespread use of induction cookers between 5 am and 9 am.
A study by EMC says at least one lakh induction cookers are being used in the state during the morning peak hours which has led to shooting up of consumption by 200MW.
“The quality of the induction cookers plays a crucial role as the low quality variety consumes higher amount of electricity. The state should impose strict testing at a quality laboratory for all the electrical equipment, including the induction cooker. An average consumer would go in for the less expensive product,” said Abdul Jaleel, MD of Babin Technologies, one of the pioneers in the induction cooker business.
“The importers of lowquality products would vanish after the sale of each batch and will reemerge in another brand name next time. This will make them free of the after-sales service,” says Jaleel, who feels induction cookers are more vulnerable to repairs owing to climate, the wiring system of the house and the gauge difference.
According to the EMC study, the gap between morning and evening peak hours’ consumption levels has narrowed. The difference has shrunk to less than 500 MW while it was over 1,000 MW, earlier. Till last year, the morning peak hour consumption had stayed below 2,000 MW. However, during the last one year, the demand has shot up to over 2500 MW when induction cookers took kitchens by a storm.
The widening price difference between LPG and electric power coupled with the nonavailability of LPG has made the induction cooker a much sought-after option. However, the steep hike in the power tariff in the state has put a brake on the sales, feel industry big shots.
According to experts, the induction cookers of good quality will consume at least 1.2 units of power per hour and an average household in the state requires three hours’ of cooking daily. Hence the consumption can be nearly 120 units for a family which depends solely on induction cookers for cooking.
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