HYDERABAD: Power cut in villages and towns that was implemented for over nine hours a day so far has been reduced to four hours following improved situation caused by a steep fall in demand.

Simultaneously, power cut on industries has also been brought down to four hours. Complete lifting of the power cut has been ruled out for the present as the four discoms have decided to keep options open in view of the possible load increase again in coming few days due to summer and strong indications from farmers to go in for a third crop to take advantage of the groundwater availability.

Farm demand

For now, the agriculture demand, which used to claim nearly 50 per cent of the power generated so far, has come down to a negligible level. "It may shoot up again if farmers opt for third crop," says Transco CMD Rachel Chatterjee. To pre-empt such a possibility, farmers have been asked not to sow the third crop.

Following near close of the rabi season, the demand for power in Telangana and Rayalaseema, which accounted for 14.4 lakhs and 5.3 lakhs of agriculture pumpsets respectively (out of the State's 24 lakh sets), tumbled drastically. Coastal Andhra, a region with 4.6 lakh pumpsets, has its demand going up every day due to peak summer conditions and lack of rain that lashed the other parts.

P. Gopala Reddy, CMD, Southern Distribution Company, which covers Coastal areas, said his company had reduced the cut by overdrawing power from the grid beyond the stipulated quota.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail