Unseasonable rain over the last few days has not only provided respite from the summer heat, but also eased pressure on the power supply situation by temporarily reducing the daily consumption.
Statistics show that the State’s daily power consumption, which stood around 200 million units (MU) a day on Thursday and Friday, reduced to 183.34 MU on Monday.
In fact, the consumption started showing a decline from Saturday itself and slumped to 168.26 MU on Sunday. A part of the reduction in consumption on Sundays is generally attributed to the fact that industrial establishments remain closed.
Even then, power experts feel the rain had a role in reducing consumption on Sunday.
Experts feel that the main reason for the reduction in consumption was the non-use of irrigation pump sets by farmers.
This is bound to be of some marginal help in the management of power supply situation in the remaining days of summer as Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. has conserved the hydel reserves in the last few days. The hydel generation that was in the range of 45 MU to 50 MU a day has reduced to about 28 MU now.
According to a power sector official, the rain has helped the State save a minimum of Rs. 6 crore to Rs. 8 crore a day in the last two days in terms of reduction in power consumption.
“It is like saving power to the tune of 750 MW to 1,000 MW,” he said.
