High Tension industrial power consumers in the district are hoping against hope that the Southern Power Distribution Company Limited will give them some relief from the impending daily ‘load relief’ for four hours necessitated by widening demand-supply gap but they only have bad news in the offing.
It is because the SPDCL is left with no option except to impose the power-cut for balancing the requirement of industrial sector with those of domestic and agricultural consumers. A formal decision to resort to ‘emergency load relief’ has already been taken, and an official announcement by the SPDCL is awaited.
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The industrial consumers have reconciled to the fact that power cuts are inevitable but what they are expecting is a change in timings proposed by SPDCL. It was asked to look into the possibility of cutting power from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on any one day in a week instead of four hours every day or for four hours in the mornings, preferably before 9 a.m., to mitigate the impact of load relief.
It will be known soon whether the SPDCL will accept that or stick to its power-cut schedules which vary between the three operational circles (Vijayawada-Tirupati, Guntur-Ongole and Nellore-Kadapa) in its purview.
According to official sources, power shortage on Wednesday stood at nearly 2,500 MW in the entire State with the demand and supply hovering at 13,500 MW and 11,000 MW respectively. Industrial sector demand in the jurisdiction of SPDCL is 1,000 MW.
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On top of the SPDCL’s agenda is to save the standing crops while the rural areas are reeling under unscheduled power cuts ranging from six to eight hours in two to three phases. Industries in some parts have also complained of erratic supply and wanted urgent remedial action.