From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Oct 13: With power situation in Karnataka remaining precarious, the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has quietly resorted to imposing load shedding in the City.

Though an official announcement is yet to be made, Bescom authorities have generally started enforcing a minimum of two hours of load shedding of one hour each in the morning and evening during the peak power consumption hours.

The load shedding is for longer duration on some days and also varies in different localities.

The duration of load shedding and power cuts in for longer durations in other urban centres and in rural areas in the State.

The power supply situation in the city is yet to see an improvement as a two-hour load shedding schedule is being imposed on days when the peak load becomes unmanageable for Bescom.

The Bescom officials are, however, hopeful of the situation stabilising by the end of this week.

In the past week, several areas experienced load shedding during evening peak hours.

Meanwhile, the shortage of power has been intensified by the shutting down of one unit in the Bellary Thermal Power Station (500 MW) and one in the Udupi Power Corporation Limited (600 MW).

While the BTPS unit is undergoing annual maintenance, the UPCL unit was shut down on October 4 due to technical reasons.

“We are also restricting hydel power generation because of a shortage in reservoirs. Combined with the thermal power generation shortage, we are currently facing a shortage of around 850 MW a day, and sometimes more,” a senior Bescom official said.

What this means for the city is a two-hour power cut spread across morning and evening peak hours.

The load shedding is being enforced for commercial, industrial and residential consumers.

“We are trying to restrict it to days when there is a shortage. However, there was no load shedding on Saturday and Sunday because of rains and lower peak demand,” the Bescom official said.