In a big relief to consumers, the Government has fully removed power cuts in Hyderabad, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Warangal and all district headquarters with immediate effect, following a drastic fall in overall electricity demand in the State.
The Government has also decided to reduce duration of power cut for all other areas as well. In case of industries, the supply will be enhanced to meet 80 per cent of their contracted demand instead of 66 per cent as now, a reprieve to industrialists reeling under outages for months together.
The demand has dropped by nearly 30 million units a day as a result of the widespread rains caused by active monsoon that brought relief to the people in the State from searing summer heat. On Wednesday, the overall demand stood at 227 mu.
The Government decision to ensure increased power supply to the consumers followed a review of the situation by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Thursday with Energy Department officials.
While the supply was off in rural areas for most of the day till now, it would be ensured to them for 18 hours a day hereafter.
For mandal headquarters, towns and municipalities, the load relief would be taken only for two hours that too in two spells.
As part of short-term measures to overcome the present shortage, power from a capacity 1,250 MW is being purchased from traders. Under a mid-term arrangement, power from 550 MW would flow into the State grid from June 16, a note from Chief Minister’s office said.
Meanwhile, the State Energy Coordination Cell said 34 solar power bidders had accepted the price of Rs 6.49 per unit offered by AP Transco to buy their power. They would set up plants with combined capacity of 350 MW. It may be recalled that 331 bidders participated in the tenders called by Transco to set up plants for a capacity of 1,000 MW, offering to create a capacity of 1,780 MW instead.
