Telangana: Thermal power output reduced

Hyderabad: Power consumption in the State has dipped to 138 million units as on December 6 following which, TSGenco has cut down generation at its thermal power plants. It was nearly 160 million units per day a month ago.

While the cold weather is seen as one of the reasons for the drop in consumption, demand for power supply from agriculture sector has also been low over the last month. Officials, however, expect the consumption to go up to 160 MU per day again when the second crop would be taken up by farmers due to availability of groundwater.

“Instead of the usual two crops, this time many farmers are going for a third crop. Already, power consumption has started to go up in north Telangana where agricultural operations have been picking up. We are expecting power consumption to steadily increase by up to a million units every day over the next three weeks. It may  reach up to 160 MU peak demand by year end,” said a senior official in TSGenco.

Officials said they are backing down generation as power purchases agreements with private power producers have been made in anticipation of 180 MU peak demand that is expected touch in summer.

“People with a fair knowledge of power generation, supply and demand will understand that unless the State goes for advance power purchase agreements anticipating peak demand, it will not be able to cater to the demand. Now, we have the option of increasing the generation at TSGenco thermal plants,” said TSGenco Chairman and Managing Director D Prabhakar Rao.