Coimbatore District is back to days of unscheduled power cuts. For the last three days, electricity consumers are facing three hours to six hours of power cut a day.
Officials of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) say that the substations follow a schedule for two hour load shedding in the morning hours and the schedule is repeated in the afternoon if there is a shortage in availability of power. The duration varies depending on the locality.
For instance, the power cut duration is more in rural areas. The situation is likely to be so till January.
The corporation has not published the schedule as the power availability situation differs every day.
Wind energy generation has dropped and north east monsoon is not as expected, resulting in shortage of power, they say.
K. Kasthurirangaian, president of Indian Wind Power Association, says that winds started declining in October. They may revive in a couple of days.
However, the State is likely to have suffered a loss of nearly 3,000 million units of power because of poor evacuation of wind energy.
The winds were good this year between April and October. But, the evacuation was less than last year, he says.
R. Ramachandran, president of Coimbatore District Small Industries’ Association, says that the power situation is turning out to be difficult for the small-scale industries. If the situation continues, it will again become a problem for the units. “We hope the Government will take some steps to improve the availability of power,” he says.
According to S. Ravikumar, president of Coimbatore Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Enterprises Association, the unscheduled power cuts without any prior information is affecting the industries.
The uncertainty in power availability in the State is hitting industrial operations and the Government should ensure that power is available continuously for at least eight hours a day to the industries.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, says that the Tangedco was implementing load shedding without any information to the public and the consumers were unaware of the schedule of power cut. They should be informed about the power situation in the State, the load shedding schedule and when the situation was expected to improve.
