The people are sweating due to unscheduled power cuts in the city. The power authorities have increased the power cut by half an hour in the morning and afternoon. The power cut is now 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and again 1.30 p.m. to 3 p.m., including one hour unscheduled power cut.
During last two days, there was an unscheduled cut in the evening by an hour. The demand touched 9.99 million units (mu) on Friday, which is said to be the highest in the recent past, while it was 9.64 mu on Thursday.
The power authorities blame it on steep fall in the generation. There is no hydel power generation on Saturday, while the thermal units generated below their capacity. The total generation capacity of all units at Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) is 1760 MW. However, it slid to 1360 MW, leading to a shortfall of 400 MW. Though there was hydel generation at Srisailam on Friday, the generation came to a halt on Saturday, sources said.
The total generation will be in the range of 10,300 MW to 10,500 MW daily. It slipped to 8750 MW on Saturday. Of this, the AP Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) scheduled quota is 2014 MW. However, the demand touched 2350 MW (22.5 percent of total generation).
The average quota for the SPDCL was 2000 MW to 2100 MW, officials said.
Incidentally, the CPDCL is drawing only 3653 MW while scheduled allocation is 4510 MW; likewise, the NPDCL is drawing 1005 MW as against 1384 MW allocation; the EPDCL is using 1534 MW while the scheduled allocation is 1476, sources said.
The SPDCL “will be the first casualty” if there was a fall in power generation.
The higher-ups concentrate on the SPDCL in view of highest demand here. To maintain the grid, the emergency load relief will be imposed. In the process, the SPDCL will stand first in the line, officials said.
