Bescom plans application for information on power cuts

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company will soon launch a mobile and web-based application to alert industries about scheduled and unscheduled power cuts.

“Bescom has been introducing a slew of technology-based and industry-friendly measures to keep industrialists informed of power outages. A web-based self-service portal will soon be launched to get rid of middlemen,” Bescom Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey said here on Wednesday. 

He was addressing the members of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industries.

‘Best customers’

Pandey said industries pay their power bills regularly and hence were the best customers of Bescom. He said the State government would soon come out with a draft policy on solar power. The government would encourage farmers to utilise their land for generating electricity and allow them to sell excess power.

Karnataka may face power crisis in the future as the demand is expected to shoot up by 15,000 MW in the next five years. Pandey said that the work on Raichur-Solapur high tension line had been completed to ensure grid connectivity and hoped that Karnataka may get at least 1,200 MW of power from the National Thermal Power Corporation unit at Bijapur. The unit has an installed capacity of 4,000 MW.

Ramesh Sriranganathan of Energy and Renewable Energy Committee, FKCCI, raised the issue of Bescom not returning security deposit in spite of the order of Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission.