Bengaluru: The power crisis of the past few days across the state and in the city in particular, has left citizens angry, but Bescom officials have a good piece of news for them - they are unlikely to face unscheduled power cuts from Thursday as two units of the Raichur thermal power station (RTPS) may resume generation from Wednesday afternoon.
However, a top energy department official said there was every possibility of the crisis recurring in case of shortfall in supply of coal, on which thermal stations like Raichur and Ballari run. "Technical issues at the thermal power plant were addressed this morning. We are also purchasing power from two agencies to cope with the demand."
What has left people flummoxed is that the crisis has hit them soon after the heavy rains across the state which left most reservoirs almost brimming. The state capital itself witnessed unscheduled load shedding ranging from two to four hours since Monday owing to the breakdown.
This prompted Bescom officials to issue a statement saying, "temporarily, due to technical reasons, power generation has fallen. Bescom is purchasing power from Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) on a daily basis to give power to its consumers." Mr P Ravikumar, additional chief secretary, Department of Energy said, "We are optimistic that load shedding will not happen from tomorrow. Besides, of the 500 MW we purchase, 300 MW has reached us and the rest is on its way. This is sufficient to meet the demand in the coming days".
He cited non-availability of coal for the shortage. "As on today, we have coal stock which is sufficient for just one day. The state government has requested Coal India Limited to ensure uninterrupted supply but the latter has expressed inability owing to rain in states with large coal deposits. The state may witness a crisis again in case of coal shortage.
