VIJAYAWADA: Power outage across the State continued for the second consecutive day on Friday, with several parts remaining without power for hours. Some other areas experience frequent interruptions in power supply.
Several parts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram,Visakhapatnam and Godavari districts have been remaining without power for more than 24 hours. At some places, power supply was restored by 7 pm on Friday.
In Prakasam district, power outages continued in rural segments of all mandals for most part of the evening. Similarly, power interruptions were reported from rural areas of Rayalaseema region and Nellore, parts of Krishna and Guntur districts.
According to sources, power outages were reported from more than 200 sub-stations on Friday. Power disruptions caused severe inconvenience to domestic, agriculture and industrial consumers. As per the feeder-wise live interruption reports of Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APSPDCL) and Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL), many feeders were experiencing power outages for several hours. Reasons cited were emergency load relief, line maintenance at some other places, and failure in incoming supply.
When contacted, energy department senior officials said they were making every effort to rectify the technical issues that cropped up during the production of power at some of the thermal power plants in the State, including Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS). They said efforts were on to restore normal power supply and distribution.
There has been frequent interruption in power supply in the State since Thursday evening. Initially, officials said it was due to load relief exercises and later it was confirmed that power production was hit at Vijayawada Thermal Power Station and Simhadri Power Plant.
According to sources, there has been a shortfall of nearly 1,400 MW of power. Shortage of funds prevented the department from purchasing power from power exchanges, which refused to sell on credit.
Unconfirmed reports said the NTPC stopped the supply of 2,000 MW of power after the State failed to clear its dues. The Rayalaseema Plant in Kadapa has insufficient coal to produce more power.