An early onset of summer has resulted in a steep rise in power consumption in the state. “Increased use of air-conditioners and fans in Bangalore over the last few weeks has increased power consumption by 10%. Agricultural load has also increased,” Tushar Girinath, managing director, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), said.
RS Hiremath, CEO of Flexitron, a company working on renewable
energy, said that an AC consumed 1 kilo watt (kw) to 1.5kw of power, depending on the tonnage, while a fan consumed about 60 watts an hour.
“A fan running for 15 hours consumes one unit of power. In urban areas, ACs and fans are switched on for more than 12 hours a day, increasing the load on the grid,” he said.
The situation is set to worsen in the coming days, with consumption increasing to an all-time high of 145 million units (mu) — a demand that even purchased power will not be able to meet in the near future.
“We are overdrawing from hydro reserves, generating up to 40mu. But the hydel reserves have to be maintained till June,” a senior official with the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation (KPTCL) said.
An expert said that the average power generation from hydel sources should be maintained at 15mu to 20mu a month to ensure stability throughout the year. He said that once the examinations were over, hydro power generation would be cut down to maintain resources till June.
This could result in loadshedding in April and May again. “Plans are afoot to purchase power for April, May and June,” he said.
“Since the demand for power would go up in summer, the cost of power would also increase. This may be passed on to the consumers later,” MG Prabhakar, energy committee member, Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), said. At least 49% of power allocation in February was given to Bescom, he said.
For short-term relief, about 1,000mw of power is being purchased this month at a cost of Rs300 crore. “Another 1,000mw will be purchased in April, 850mw in May and 750mw in June. Tenders have been called for these,” he said.
Besides, the Udupi Power Corporation Limited’s 60mw and 500mw units at Bellary are likely to be commissioned in September and December, respectively.
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