Power crisis looming in State

The Energy Minister may have promised normal power supply during summer, but given the ground realities the electricity supply companies may have to enforce power cuts. Sources in the Energy department said that while the government is meeting the present demand, it may be difficult to sustain the supply in the coming days. According to the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited, the power consumption reached a peak of 9,164 MW on February 12 this year. The consumption for the same day in 2012 was 8,740 MW. As per statistics available with the KPTCL, the power consumption reached 192.75 million units a day while the generation stood at 181 million units on Thursday. The authorities hope that all the power generating units would function without any glitch till the end of summer. "We have been doing well with the power generation this week, as compared to last week. At present, we have been able to meet the demand,” said KPTCL MD Kumar Naik, reiterating that there should not be any disruption in the coming days. Naik said that the peak demand for power is generally during the months of February and March each year. He said the demand for power from agriculture sector will come down during summer since sowing begins on in June. Air conditioners and other electrical appliances used to beat the heat constitute major part of the power consumption during summer. Bescom Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey said they had charted out the consumption pattern for the next few months. "The present consumption will not hamper the power supply over the next few months. Our systems are in fact showing that we should be alright till the end of the summer,” he said. It is said that over the last couple of weeks, several of the hydroelectric plants had shut down due to various technical problems. Added to this, sources in the Energy department said that financial constraints have affected procurement of coal for the thermal power plants in the State. The major problems were found in Udupi Power Corporation Limited and Raichur and Bellary Thermal Power Plants. Deccan Herald