Load shedding creeping into city

Load shedding creeping into city

Chitra V. Ramani

KPTCL has no authority to deny supply to a section of consumers: KERC

# Daily consumption in Bangalore crosses 130 million units
# Officials criticised for not informing KERC about power cut

Bangalore: Suresh Patravali, resident of Vijayanagar, is a troubled businessman these days. "The power goes off at least five times a day. There is nothing much we can do without power. I am facing a lot of problems because I run my business from home," he said.

Jayalakshmi Nagaraj, housewife and resident of Basaveshwaranagar, also faces a lot of hardship because of the constant interruptions in power supply. "The power supply is erratic. A few days ago, we did not have power for five hours in the night. I have a young grandchild and it was difficult to take care of him that day," she said.

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) had earlier said that the city would be spared and no load shedding would be imposed. Authorities of BESCOM said that with the daily consumption crossing 130 million units, load shedding had to be taken up in towns and rural areas. Bangalore, they said, would be exempted.

However, recently, sources at KPTCL said that at a board meeting, the decision was taken to empower chief engineers to take up load shedding even in the city during the peak hours.

Officials criticised

K.P. Pandey, Chairman of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), on Thursday lambasted officials of KPTCL for not taking the permission of the commission before imposing load shedding in rural areas and towns. "There is a system by which one can regulate supply. The KPTCL authorities should have come before the KERC with a proposal. They do not have the authority to take up load shedding without the permission of the KERC," he said.

He said he got to know of the bleak power scenario in the State through reports published in the dailies. "Why is there a shortage? Who is drawing more power? Under what authority did the KPTCL decide to impose load shedding and deny power to a section of consumers? KPTCL should realise that it is not a law unto itself."

Mr. Pandey said that only the KERC had the authority to approve reduction in the number of hours of power supply. "If the licensee is facing any difficulty, they should have come before the commission with a proposal. We would have heard their case and taken a decision on whether to approve it or not," he added.

Asked about the power scenario, Bharat Lal, Managing Director, KPTCL, told The Hindu that the frequency was not good. "We are forced to impose load shedding to maintain the grid condition, otherwise all our consumers will suffer if the grid collapses," he said.

He refused to comment on the charges levelled by the KERC Chairman against KPTCL.

Augmentation

The transmission and distribution system is not able to handle the increase in consumption, as the authorities have not taken up augmentation for a long time, because of which most areas are unable to handle the load. It is only recently that the authorities took up augmentation of the system.

Plea to HT consumers

The Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) has appealed to the HT consumers with captive generation facility to help reduce the load by using their own capability during the evening peak hours.

KPTCL Managing Director Bharat Lal told The Hindu that such an appeal had been made in the wake of increasing power shortage. He made it clear that the KPTCL had not resorted to load shedding for HT consumers.

"It is only an appeal to them to help manage the situation by desisting from depending on the KPTCL power during the evening peak hours," he said.