There have been many promises of uninterrupted power supply for Bengaluru. But in reality, the city has suffered far more feeder outages than other districts catered to by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom).
The power utility has 5,407 feeders overall, and 1,526 are in Bengaluru North and South (BMAZ areas).
The sum of outage duration of all feeders in BMAZ areas in May alone was 21,248 hours, according to the power utility’s ‘Reliability Indices’. Other districts covered by Bescom, such as Kolar, had 821 hours of feeder outages while Davangere had 479 hours.
Bescom has claimed an average 98.94% on its reliability index of power supply to consumers for the 2017-18 financial year for Bengaluru Urban district.
Demand for independent audit
The contrast between the power utility’s claims and the number of power interruptions has raised the demand for a third-party audit of the reliability index yet again.
Y.G. Muralidharan from the Karnataka Electricity Governance Network (KEGN) said an independent audit system framed by the regulatory authorities — in this case the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) — is necessary, apart from a third-party audit. “Right now, there should not be a problem in power supply at all (given that the State’s electricity supply companies claim to have excess power). There is no reason other than failure of maintenance. Irrespective of the number of feeders, it is about continuing with old equipment.”
‘Other utilities responsible’
Bescom officials blamed ‘external sources’ for damaging its feeders. A senior official said the power utility had studied the figures and the causes, and had found that work undertaken by other utilities, such as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, TenderSURE works, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., had damaged its feeders.
“If, for example, one 220 kv cable is damaged, about 40 stations will be affected. Power availability is not the issue at all,” said the official, adding that only better coordination can resolve the problem.
P. Rajendra Cholan, Managing Director, Bescom, said, “There is a lot of development work happening in Bengaluru compared to the other districts. Simultaneously, there are works undertaken by other agencies too. But consumers will have power supply, as we ensure that, in most cases, power is taken from an alternative feeder if one feeder fails.”
City fares poorly in comparison with other mega cities
Complaints of frequent power cuts from residents of Bengaluru have the backing of data.
According to data for April 2018 from Pune-based NGO Prayas Energy Group’s Electricity Supply Monitoring Initiative (ESMI), the ‘average no supply hours per location’ for four ESMI locations in Bengaluru was 26.
In comparison, New Delhi had three average no supply hours per location for four ESMI locations, and Chennai had three average no supply hours per location at nine ESMI locations.
In the previous months too, Bengaluru reported higher numbers than the other cities’ ESMI locations.
The ESM is a plug-in device that integrates a voltage recorder and a data-logger. It records voltage by the minute and sends the data to a central server.
The trend has been similar during other months too. For example, in April 2017, Bengaluru was second only to Kanpur (20 average no supply hours per location in five ESMI locations) in Uttar Pradesh, with 14 average no supply hours per location in nine ESMI locations.
Same was the case in April 2016, when Bengaluru had 17 average no supply hours per location at eight ESMI locations, after only Kanpur.
Shweta Kulkarni, Senior Research Associate, Prayas Energy Group, said though Bescom was among the better ones with regard to metering its feeders, the numbers (of feeder outages) mentioned in its reliability indices may not necessarily translate into the actual number of interruptions the consumer has faced.
