With private power generating companies having refused to supply power to the State grid, the government has resorted to load-shedding in the State. Load-shedding will be for two hours to six hours a day.
In Bangalore city, it will be for two hours a day. Bangalore Electricity Supply Company will announce the load-shedding schedule soon.
Availability of power to the State grid has been reduced by 1,650 MW a day. Private power generating firms are short supplying 650 MW to State-owned electricity supply companies while Udupi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) has cut down supply by 600 MW. There has also been a reduction in the power generation at the State-owned thermal power stations.
Addressing presspersons here on Monday, Minister for Energy D.K. Shivakumar said, “I am not in a position to repeat what I had said two weeks ago.” On April 22, the Minister said that the State’s power situation was comfortable and that there would be no load-shedding in summer this year.
“Load-shedding is inevitable. In Bangalore city, there will be at least two hours of load-shedding and in some places such as Yelahanka, it will be more than the minimum on account of weak transformers.”
Efforts would be made to ensure 22-hour power supply in Bangalore city. However, load-shedding in rural areas would be decided based on the demand and supply of power, the Minister said.
Power generation has been reduced from 8,522 MW to 7,572 MW in the State, owing to technical snags at the Raichur Thermal Power Station and Bellary Thermal Power Station.
However, there has been a fall in demand from 185 million units to 165 million units a day owing to the decreased demand from farmers. Now, 712 MW of power would be purchased daily at Rs. 5.50 per unit, he said.
Stay orderMeanwhile, the High Courts of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have stayed the State government’s decision to invoke Section 11 of the Electricity Act to make it mandatory for power generating firms to supply power to only State-owned electricity supply companies.
Following the stay order, private companies have stopped supplying 650 MW to the electricity supply companies.
