Hyderabad: The persistent power problems are here to stay in the city with no immediate relief in sight. While smaller problems in AP districts may subside, there will be no immediate relief for districts in Telangana state. Despite efforts from both states to procure more power and a commitment to spend more on power purchases, the corridor constraints will not allow much relief.
In fact as per insiders, the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited, has proposed upscaling of scheduled cuts to six-eight hours in the city and eight to 10 hours in the suburbs. Both new states are now racing against each other to secure power from outside sources. Anticipating future requirements, both states have also bid for the transmission corridor.
“Despite bidding in advance, the 1,200 MW effective corridor will stand to be divided between bids from all the five southern states. It doesn’t leave too much scope for either state as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are all competing by placing bids for a larger chunk of the corridor,” said a highly placed source.
AP is currently facing a shortage of 5 million units . Telangana, meanwhile, is reeling under a shortage of up to 20 MU per day and the power demand is expected to touch 155 MU per day in the next few days (against an average of 130 mu) leading to the deficit to increase further.
In fact, officials are unable to pin down any time frame for tiding over the crisis and the discoms’ proposal for upscaling cuts are under consideration. “Unscheduled power cuts are being imposed in the city along with four hours of scheduled cuts. There is no immediate solution except for getting more power from outside sources or continuing with the power cuts. Attempts are being made to get the situation back under control,” said an official.
