Now, power cuts scar Brand Bangalore

Now, power cuts scar Brand Bangalore
Financial Express

BANGALORE: Brand Bangalore, plagued by notorious traffic snarls and pot-holed roads, has added one more feather to its infamous cap — frequent power outages. With power demand peaking on the back of mushrooming new companies and surging population, the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTCL) has started feeling the heat this summer like never before.

Power requirement in the Bangalore circle is growing at a rapid pace. The number of consumers under the state-owned power-distributing company, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has shot up by 5.57% to 55.54 lakh in 2005-06 fiscal, from 52.52 lakh a year ago.

Talking to FE, Bescom managing director, G Kumar Naik, said the number of consumers was expected to grow by 5.6% to 58.65 lakh in the current fiscal. Annual energy consumption in Bescom climbed by 10.13% to 16,128 million units (mu) in 2005-06 fiscal from 14,645 mu in the previous financial year. Mr Naik said power requirement was estimated to increase by 16% to 18,647 mu in the current fiscal.

In fact, Bescom has been divided into three operating zones — Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMA), Bangalore Rural Area (BRA) and Chitradurga zone. More than 85% of power supplied by Bescom is being consumed in the BMA and BRA zones, where nearly 1,800 large, medium and small IT firms and thousands of other corporate establishments are located.

While corporates are flaying the government for unscheduled power cuts, a top Bescom official said increased demand for power in the IT corridor, mainly due to use of air-conditioners and service stations, was the major factors forcing the utility to cut supply during peak hours.

Although a few of top establishments have their own captive power generating plants, the most affected ones are small and medium entrepreneurs. A major chunk of the revenue of small and medium-level IT and other establishments go towards footing electricity bills from alternate sources.

Justifying power cuts, KPTCL sources said the failure of major central and state power generating stations in the southern grid had plunged all southern states, including Karnataka, into crisis. The state is facing shortage of nearly 18 million units a day. However, official sources said KPTCL had floated tenders for generation of additional 200 mw in March for the summer months, but had received no response. The said proposal was too short-term for private power generating companies. Hence, no one has shown interest, sources disclosed.