Andhra Pradesh sends industry on long power holiday

The blackout’s official now. Industry in Andhra Pradesh will have no power for 12 days in a month.

And even on days when the utilities do supply power, there will be a further restriction from 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm.

“Though painful, utilities are forced to impose power cuts. In spite of sustained efforts by the government and the power utilities to meet the ever increasing power demand at about 255 million units (MU), the supplies have remained at 215 MU, leaving a deficit of around 40 MU,” the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTransco) said in a statement.

The move will cost industry dear, throwing production schedules haywire, say industry sources.

“This is extremely unreasonable,” said a senior member of a trade body in the state, unwilling to be quoted just yet. He said this could force companies to lay off people as production schedules would have to be redrawn in line with the supply schedule.

APTransco, on its part, blamed the move on insufficient gas supplies to power plants in the state, which has worsened the blow from a persistent dry spell, scarcity of coal and low hydel reservoir levels.

“At present the gas-based power plants are receiving natural gas of about 6.43 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metre per day) only against the total requirement of 13.65 mmscmd, leaving a deficit of around 7.22 mmscmd, and thus there is an idle capacity of around 1,600 mw. Further, upcoming plants with a total capacity of around 2,000 mw are not commissioned so far due to non-allocation of gas. The plant load factor (PLF) of gas power projects in the state is just 34% due to severe shortage of natural gas,” APTransco’s member secretary said in the statement.

According to APTransco officials, against a demand of around 11,500 mw, the total generation is 9,142 mw currently.

“The government and utilities are trying their best to balance the situation. With agriculture remaining the priority, there is a need for conserving the available power and diverting it to the sector even at the cost of domestic and industrial users. The dry spell, despite the setting in of the monsoon, is causing concern,” said one of the officials.

According to the load relief pattern released by APTransco, while the 12-day a month power holiday is for the industry in general, the small scale industries have been offered some relief by restricting the power holiday to about eight days in a month.

The domestic load relief for villages is harsh, too. Villages will have no power supply from 6 pm to 6 am, save for street lighting and agriculture.

Major cities like Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vizag and Warangal will also see a three-hour power cut every day for domestic users.

District headquarters, other towns, municipalities and mandal headquarters will have a six-hour power cut every day.