City faces 4 hour power cuts

City faces 4 hour power cuts

November 11th, 2009
By Our Correspondent
Tags: North Karnataka flood relief, power supply


Bengaluru, Nov. 10: It’s official, the B.S. Yeddyurappa government will focus on flood relief at the expense of power supply. After buying an uncertain peace with arch rivals, the Reddys, and confident there will be no elections to test their popularity, the BJP government has told the energy department it cannot allocate the 2008 budget of Rs 3,000 crore to purchase power as all available funds will be diverted to North Karnataka flood relief.
“As in Maharashtra, Andhra and Tamil Nadu, where there is scheduled load shedding of 3 to 4 hours in the cities, the department will do the same in Karnataka,” said sources, adding demand is expected to start peaking from December.
Until now, the state has successfully hoodwinked the public by not officially announcing power cuts. But the problem is complicated because of dwindling hydel resources that is currently being tapped for power by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL).
“The Corporation can provide a steady supply of hydel energy till June 30 next year, if the power being drawn is restricted to 40 million units per day. However, hydel energy is being drawn erratically. The department consumes 50 to 60 MU on certain days. If this continues, then we will have very little water stored to meet demand during summer,” said a KPCL official.