BENGALURU: The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (BESCOM) will soon release a load-shedding schedule for domestic areas to cope with power shortage.
The power generation in the state has taken a hit following the weak monsoon and technical snags in thermal power plants.
BESCOM managing director Pankaj Kumar Pandey said, “There will be power cuts for an hour in the mornings and an hour in the evenings, schedules for which will be announced shortly. The engineers at Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) are trying to revive the power station.”
According to the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) guidelines, electricity supply companies (ESCOMS) are required to notify consumers about load shedding under Section 23 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
“If the Udupi power station is fixed, we will get 1,500 MW and the duration of power cuts will be reduced. We are waiting for the UPCL authorities to get back to us. After that, BESCOM will announce the power cut schedule in the city,” Pandey said.However, industrialists are complaining that ESCOMs have failed to inform the industrial consumers about the power situation due to which they are incurring heavy losses.
Federation Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), Energy Commission, chairman M G Prabhakar said, “We have approached the KERC and asked it to direct the ESCOMs to divulge advance information of load shedding and enforce its guidelines, but no such effort has been initiated.”
On the other hand, BESCOM claims to have sufficient power, but constant load shedding have taken a toll on the foundry industry and continuous processing plants, he said.
The issue of ESCOMs curtailing power from the industrial consumers to maintain power in the domestic areas without prior notice has been brought before the KERC twice, once in 2010 and again in 2011.
The complaint filed with the KERC on August 11, 2011, was against the BESCOM. In both cases, the commission found power distribution companies at fault, and had directed them to stop such practices. But refusing to learn from their previous mistakes, the power companies have again faltered the commission by not complying with its orders.
Prabhakar said, “Metal and plastic industries are the worst affected and I have received a lot of calls from industrialists who are incurring both production and financial losses from incessant power cuts. If the ESCOMs issue an advance load shedding protocol, such losses can be minimised.”
The industrialists are of the view that the power distribution companies “have handled the situation in the worst manner possible.” Despite poor power generation in the state, “the ESCOMs have taken zero effort to inform the consumers about the situation.”