The Hindu

Bangalore, Feb 23: The power shortage owing to the increase in demand triggered by the soaring summer temperatures has assumed serious proportions in Karnataka with the gap between the demand and supply of power exceeding 1,200 MW.

In terms of energy, the shortage is said to be more than 20 million units (mu) a day — which is the highest-ever energy shortage faced by the State.

According to sources in the Electricity Supply Companies (Escoms), the State can supply only 130 to134 mu of power a day. But the actual requirement will be about 148 mu a day even if the government’s official line on load shedding — one hour in Bangalore, two to three hours in other urban areas and 12 hours in rural areas — is followed.

Such a shortage has resulted in an increase in load-shedding throughout the State without any official announcement. While Bangalore is facing load-shedding of about three hours a day, other urban areas are going without power for four to six hours a day. Villages are badly hit as the actual hours of load-shedding are more than the hours of supply in most of the rural areas. The State has already increased the generation from major hydel sources to 31.23 mu. The State’s storage in the three major hydel reservoirs, which is about 50.76 per cent of the total capacity, can help generate a total of 4,410 mu. Normally, precaution is taken to ensure that there is availability of hydel storage till June 30 when the reservoirs would start getting fresh inflows. Going by this trend, the State can generate only 34.19 mu a day from the major hydel reservoirs for the next 128 days.

The sources said that the State had already commenced procurement of about 300 MW of power from private generators, besides the supply of 150 MW of power from GMR company on a barter basis. Former Energy Minister and BJP State unit president K.S. Eshwarappa announced that the State would procure another 300 MW of power from Chhattisgarh and Jindal from March 1.

Rota on load-shedding

Meanwhile, there is a likelihood of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) coming out with a fresh rota on load-shedding in two or three days in a bid to streamline the ongoing power cuts in its jurisdiction, including in Bangalore. According to the sources, the new rota would indicate the extent of load-shedding during the different peak hours. There is also a thinking among a section of officials in Bescom to avoid load-shedding after 7 p.m. so that those preparing for examinations were not affected.