A steep rise in the duration of power-cut is on cards due to gross mismatch between demand and supply.
The Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) is contemplating taking the duration of power cut to a minimum of five hours from the existing three hours. The new schedule is likely to be announced in next two days.
The SPDCL has been implementing seven-hour cut, including the three-hour schedule, since Saturday under the garb of load-shedding. It continued on Sunday as well and the power situation is unlikely to improve in near future.
The company is also unable to meet the seven-hour mandatory power supply to the agriculture sector in the district. Four to five-hour power supply is being ensured to the agriculture sector, sources say.
The SPDCL authorities explain that the demand rose owing to continuous holidays, and shortage of power supply. In addition, the power consumption has increased considerably with farmers largely depending on borewells to take up the agricultural operations.
There are 74,500 agricultural connections in the district consuming 2.5 MU, on average, per day.
Nearly 30 to 40 per cent of the allocated power is consumed by the industries.
There are 14,350 industrial units in Krishna district under the SPDCL jurisdiction. Of these, 40 industrial connections, including 12 spinning mills, are major industries in the district.
The consumption is touching 10.8 million units (MU) though there was a power-cut for three hours in the city. Sometimes, the demand is touching 11 MU to 11.5 MU per day as against allocated 9.4 MU per day. The overloading of transformers is leading to frequent tripping or blackout.
The supply automatically trips if the load exceeds the permitted level. The situation would not improve unless hydel power generation picked up.
Or, the government purchased power from outside, the officials say.
