Andhra Pradesh

Non-stop power for farm sector, students assured

HYDERABAD: Uninterrupted power supply will be ensured daily from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the State to facilitate operation of agricultural pumpsets and for the benefit of exam-going students.

The power cut that may be necessitated by breakdown of the generation stations will be confined to daytime, that too covering domestic and commercial sectors. AP Transco has asked the distribution companies to see that supply is made available to the farm sector for seven hours as a thumb-rule under such circumstances, if necessary by implementing load-shedding for domestic/commercial sectors.

Transco has issued a list of do’s and don’ts to the companies to tackle the peak summer demand that reached 194 million units (mu) on Wednesday and is expected to cross the 200-mu mark shortly. This is mainly due to increased rabi load and rise in temperatures, pushing up the demand.

When contacted by The Hindu here on Thursday in the light of the public fears about cuts, Transco CMD Rachel Chatterjee sought to allay such apprehensions, saying that “every effort is being made to meet the demand without cut.”

She did not foresee any scarcity unless some generation stations tripped simultaneously and said “even under such circumstances, the cut, if any, would be confined locally to domestic/commercial sectors. Meanwhile, Transco is straining very nerve to purchase power from outside and run the generation stations of the State grid without stoppage.

The utility is purchasing 14 mu daily on an average from outside, including private traders, paying a heavy price of Rs 8 per unit on an average.

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