Gear up to meet  rising  power demand, Naidu tells power utilities

Energy Minister Kala Venkata Rao stresses need to speed up implementation of DDUGJY, IPDS with Central support
A construction worker drinks water to quench his thirst,  at Benz Circle in Vijayawada on Sunday | P Ravindra Babu
A construction worker drinks water to quench his thirst, at Benz Circle in Vijayawada on Sunday | P Ravindra Babu

VIJAYAWADA: With estimated power demand set to go up in the State by four million units (MU) a day from this week, during which the maximum temperatures are expected to soar past 45 degree Celsius, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has directed the officials to gear up to meet the demand. From the average demand of 186 MU in April, the demand is expected go up to 190 MU per day with a peak demand 7,900 MW.

In a telephonic review meeting with Energy Minister K Kala Venkat Rao on Sunday, the Chief Minister said that with high temperatures anticipated in the next few days, the power utilities should be ready to provide uninterrupted power supply. If there are any outages, the the field staff should resolve the issue within 24 hours. Naidu also told the officials to clear all the bottlenecks, if any, in the implementation of drinking water schemes.

The energy minister, on the occasio n, mentioned that the maximum day demand in the years 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 was 162.09 MU, 178.14 MU, and 184.98 MU respectively.

Meanwhile, speaking at a review meeting on power infrastructure development plan, the Energy Minister stressed the need to expedite the implementation of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) with the support from the Central government.

The officials informed Kala Venkat Rao that 99% of below poverty households have been electrified under DDUGJY. "As far as new substations are concerned, 595 33/11 KV out of the target of 670 have been achieved," they informed.

Chairperson and managing director of APTRANSCO and managing director of APGENCO K Vijayanand, energy advisor K Ranganatham, and other officials were also present in the meeting.

Maximum day demand

FY 2015-16: 162.09 MU with a peak demand of 7725 MW

FY 2016-17: 178.14 MU with a peak demand 8212 MW

FY 2017-18: 184.98 MU with a peak demand of 8983 MW

FY 2018-19 (April): 190 MU with peak demand of 7900 MW

Average: 175.07 MU with peak demand of 8,306 MW

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