Power crisis may worsen

Power crisis may worsen
DH News Service, Bangalore:
The power situation in Karnataka which is already reeling under severe energy shortage, may aggravate further if the rain god fails to turn benign over the next two days...


A crippling crisis might only mean that the current unscheduled load-sheddings across the State will make way for power cuts.

While load-sheddings are partial shutdowns of the distribution system to avert a total collapse without reducing the quantum of supply, power cuts mean that the quantum of power allocated to consumers itself will come down.

The power consumption in the State is 120 to 130 million units a day, while the KPTCL is in a position to supply only 100 MUs following the depletion of water levels in major hydel reservoirs.

The State is mainly dependent on hydel power, which makes for 62 per cent of the total generation. The hydel power’s share has now come down to 20 per cent, sources said.

While the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) contributes to another 20 per cent of the State’s generation, the rest comes from Central generating stations.

The government has decided to purchase power from Chhattisgarh which has reportedly agreed to supply a minimum 100 MW. The supply may go up to 200 MW in the days to come. Every unit of power may cost Rs 8 when it is bought from the Power Trading Corporation.

The average price at which the State is purchasing power from private producers is Rs 3 to Rs 3.50 per unit, the sources said. Efforts will also be made to purchase power from private producers including Jindal.

“All these efforts may help us in getting additional 8 MUs which hardly matches the demand,” the sources pointed out.

Energy Minister K S Eshwarappa on Friday evening met Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ramana Singh, who is undergoing treatment at the Jindal nature cure hospital here, to request for 500 MW of power to tide over the crisis. On record, Singh said his state can partially fulfil the State’s requirements.

Speaking to mediapersons earlier, Eshwarappa expressed his unhappiness at the Centre’s “diversion” of 100 MW from the State’s power quota to Andhra Pradesh.

The State at present gets 1546 MW of power from Central generating stations.

In addition, the State is entitled for 150 MW of power under the unallotted quota and of this, 100 MW was reportedly being diverted to AP.

Unheeded demands

“We had asked for 3,000 MW of additional power. But the Centre has not fulfiled our demand so far. What is painful is that the Centre has allotted our quota to Andhra Pradesh. We have already written to the Centre in protest against this,” Eshwarappa said.

Stating that the power situation is grim in the State, Eshwarappa said members of the cabinet subcommittee on power would meet on Sunday to decide on the load-shedding quantum for various consumer categories.

He said the committee members are visiting Delhi on Wednesday to appeal to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Power to come to the rescue of the State.

Replying to a query, Eshwarapa denied that the commissioning of the Bellary Thermal Power Station Unit 1 was being delayed due to the non-availability of national BJP leaders for the inauguration.

The Energy Minister also said that “there are minor problems which are being attended to and the unit will be commissioned either by this month end or the first week of August”.

MINISTER LEAVES IT TO GOD

Only God can save us, if there are no rains,” exclaimed Minister for Power K S Eshwarappa in the Legislative Council on Friday, while reacting to the Opposition’s apprehensions over the power crisis.

He said “due to the paucity of rains, there will also be drinking water scarcity this time”. The minister also said the decision to provide free electricity to farmers was taken on the belief that there would soon be enough rains.