Telangana power utilities gear up for summer season demand

The power consumption trends prevailing in the Telangana have already put the authorities on high alert as the demand is fast going up

Hyderabad: With the Telangana State likely to experience high consumption of power during the ongoing summer season, the Energy department is gearing up to tackle the situation.

The power consumption trends prevailing in the State have already put the authorities on high alert as the demand is fast going up. Though the power demand in the State stood at 257.755 mu on Tuesday, it is likely to increase gradually in the coming week. The power utility department had earlier predicted that the peak demand would touch 15,000 MW in March and made arrangements for electricity supply. Of the total demand, around 37 percent was used by agriculture consumers, while the remaining 63 percent was used by industrial and domestic consumers.

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On March 30, the State recorded a peak power demand of 15,497 MW, which was expected to cross the 16,000 MW barrier in the coming days with the daily energy consumption to range over 300 million units, officials said.

In March last year, the highest power consumption was 14,160 MW, whereas this time it has crossed the 15,000 MW mark multiple times. In fact, the State has been registering a power demand of over 14,000 MW every day for the last one month to meet agriculture, domestic and industrial power requirements.

The power demand in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits had already touched 2,900 MW and was likely to touch 3,500 to 3,900 MW in the coming days, officials said. However, the power demand for agriculture had slightly come down due to the harvesting season.

According to officials, the number of agriculture power connections had increased to 27 lakh in the State in the last few years and the government was providing 24×7 power supply to them despite financial constraints. It is estimated that the agricultural power consumption amounts to about 5,500 MW out of the average power demand of 14,000 MW.

Meanwhile, auto-starters have become a cause for concern for the Discoms, as they are losing power worth about Rs.8 crore a day owing to the usage of autostarter devices fitted to agricultural pumpsets. The discoms are now urging the farmers to remove the autostarters on their own so that power could be saved during off seasons.

Officials informed that repair and maintenance of lines were being taken up for uninterrupted supply of electricity during the peak summer.