People will have to put up with the power cuts imposed in several spells, at least till the onset of Southwest monsoon, as the demand for power has outstripped the supply, in view of the extended summer.
“The demand for power remains high in view of abnormal rise in temperature in the last 10 days. Power supply now stands at 338 MW while demand has increased to 390 MW,” said Andhra Pradesh Southern Distribution Company Limited (APSDCL) Superintending Engineer A. Jayakumar, on the eve of the meeting convened by the APTransco with the SEs in Hyderabad to discuss ways to mitigate the sufferings of people reeling under the impact of power cuts. He said that Prakasam district was drawing 7.01 million units per day against the quota of 6.63 million units for June.
Load shedding scheduleAt present, areas under the purview of Ongole Municipal Corporation are facing five-hour power cut in three spells-- from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and between 7.45 p.m. and 8.45 p.m. In Municipalities and mandal headquarters, seven-hour load shedding has been imposed in three spells-- between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., 12 noon and 3 p.m. and from 7,.45 p.m. to 8.45 p.m. “We have issued instructions to resort to emergency load relief to safeguard the grid as and when needed,” Mr. Jayakumar says.
There will be no improvement in power supply till the major reservoirs such as Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar gets filled up so that hydel power generation can be resumed, the SE opines.
Delayed monsoon
Meanwhile, weather officials say that Southwest monsoon usually hit the State by June second week. But, this time it is likely to be delayed by a week or so.
