Rural areas face loadshedding from power-starved Bescom

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), on Monday, said it was facing a shortage of 300 MW power due to scanty rains and shortage in water levels. As a result, Bescom said, there will be “rescheduling of power supply” in rural areas.

The load shedding is likely to be scheduled in a manner that IP sets get power for 6 hours and households, will get power for 12 hours as per Government order.

“The situation this summer is exacerbated by a severe drought in the preceding year, which pulled down the water levels. Adding to that, suddenly the RTPS unit 8 was shut down due to technical fault. During summer, there are also sudden failures in the central generating stations located outside the State, from where we buy the power.

Thus, we expect a maximum shortage of around 300 MW during the peak period of 6-9 am and 6-9 pm,” Bescom said.

It is said Bescom is expecting close to 600MW additional demand on account of summer and examination season, taking the total demand in their jurisdiction to 4,100 MW.
The revelations come as part of Bescom efforts, which is looking at a possible ‘crisis’ over the next two months of summer season.

The electricity company has stated that it is looking at a three-fold plan to address the summer season, from March to May 2013.

Firstly, Bescom is looking at prevention of overdrawal and excess consumption by agricultural pumpsets (IP), by illegally converting power supplied for lighting purpose to run the pumpsets.

“Bescom will make certain changes in the technology, thereby making such illegal conversion impossible. This system is called as ‘Open delta system’. The estimated saving due to this is around 210 MW.”

The electricity company is also looking at strict vigilance by their vigilance teams, which include law and order policemen to inspect installations even at night (from 6 pm to 9 pm) and prevent misuse of power in activities like welding, decorative lighting, thefts etc.

1,500 inspections
It is estimated that all  officers of Bescom will hold atleast 1,500 inspections each day and save another 60 MW of power.

Further, Bescom is looking at creating awareness and requesting the public to use heavy power during the night time, when the demand is less. “Heavy power consuming appliances and equipment, like water pump, geyser etc can be used after 10 pm at night, instead of early morning. Bescom will use its brand ambassador, for creating such awareness. We expect savings of around 30 MW from this.”