High tension consumers in AP face power holiday, cuts

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, March 2

The high tension (HT) industrial power users in Andhra Pradesh are now faced with severe power shortage and forced to contend with one way power holiday and four-hour cut during peak hours in the week days.

AP Transco and four distribution companies in the State have decided to bring in a four-hour power cut for the industrial consumers between 6.30 pm and 10.30 pm during the week days and one day power holiday once a week.

The decision to regulate power was taken as the State is faced with huge demand supply gap. The gap has widened further to about 40 million units a day with the peak demand at 260 MW. The demand has gone up further due to additional demand for power to support pump sets during the rabi crop season demand.

Inability

According to the Government sources, the scarcity is also due to inability to purchase power at higher rates from the other States. The State is providing lesser than the promised subsidy to the power sector during the year due to financial constraints. This has restricted the Transco and discoms from additional power purchases.

In addition, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and other major cities in the State are faced with one-hour power regulation area wise. This goes up to 2 hours in municipal limits, four hours in mandal headquarters and is as high as six hours in villages, according to Mr. Ajay Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of AP Transco.

The situation is likely to improve when the rabi season comes to close by April end and the demand for energy from the pump sets comes down. The Government is also expecting the 445 MW Konaseema power to be operational, which will partly ease the situation.