The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Power holiday: no major complaints

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Power holiday: no major complaints

T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI: The system of power holiday came into force on Monday without any major complaints, except from industry. In Chennai, supply is interrupted for one hour and in other cities and towns for two hours. In villages, supply will be cut for four hours on two days. This is being done to meet the present crisis of power shortage of 1,000 megawatt (MW).

Reports from a cross-section of residents of Chennai indicate that supply was not interrupted beyond the scheduled hour in their respective areas. R. Thangathurai, resident of Perambur Barracks Road, said “In my area, the current was off from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. It was restored exactly at 11 a.m.”

This morning, the peak demand was around 7,300 MW. The crash in demand was attributed to rainfall in parts of the State, including Tiruchi, Thanjavur and Villupuram. In the evening, it was around 8,100 MW. Normally, the demand was in the range of 9,200 MW-9,300 MW.

However, industry complained that in some parts of the State, its units were asked to stop production even though they came under different zonal holidays. For example, the zonal holidays for industrial units in Madurai and Cuddalore are Friday and Tuesday. Conceding that some industrial units were affected because of urban load shedding, an official of the Electricity Board says the organisation would find a solution. Explaining the rationale behind distinguishing Chennai from other cities and towns in terms of load shedding, the official said the present load was 1,600 MW-1,800 MW in Chennai. Even if supply was cut for one hour, it would result in reducing the load by 120 MW-150 MW, whereas in other cities and towns, only if the duration of interruption was two hours, could the impact be felt.

D.E. Ramakrishnan, president, National Confederation of Small Industry, wanted the authorities to assure industry and other consumers that quality power would be supplied without interruption during the period other than those of power holiday and zonal holidays.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu