HUBBALLI: As a majority of irrigation pump sets remain unutilised due to water scarcity, the drought has come as a blessing in disguise for Hubballi Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM), which usually struggles to meet the demand for power supply.
In the consumer matrix of HESCOM, though weightage of irrigation pump set connections is just 15 per cent, they constitute 50-60 per cent of the total demand in Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura.
Despite increase in demand in the wake of surge in mercury level, particularly from urban centres, HESCOM has not yet resorted to load-shedding.
The reason cited by HESCOM director (technical) S P Sakkari is lesser load on the feeder connected to irrigation pump sets. He said that the load thus saved is being used to meet the supply deficit.