Hyderabad, February 14: Power cuts have not yet become ubiquitous across the state, but soon they might be since the demand is slowly going up.
For instance, in Karimangar, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati there are no power interruptions as such but officials say happy days may not last long.
Vijayawada city’s consumption stood at a record 19 lakh units compared to 16 lakh units last year.
In rural areas, load shedding ranges from one hour to two hours. But officials fear that as day temperatures rise, load shedding would become inevitable. During peak hours, the power shortage in State stood at 47 million units on Feb 12.
Hyderabad is an altogether different proposition. The Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited (APCDCL) officials have already begun load shedding in some parts of the city. This is because it is already feeling the pinch in the form of less power generation.
For the last 20 days, power consumption is steadily going up in the twin cities. M T Krishna Babu, Managing Director, APCDCL, said the load in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is growing at a rapid pace and on February 9, touched 104.66 million units _ the highest so far in Hyderabad and it is likely to increase in March and April.
The power shortage in city is around 17 million units. For the past 10 days, the officials are implementing a few hours of power cuts depending on the load. Sarathchandra Srinu, chief general manager (CMD) of the APCDCL, however, told Express that power supply would be shutdown for some time at various locations in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits not because of availability of power but due to different works.
Localities like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Somajiguda, Madhapur and some areas in Ameerpet, SR Nagar, Sanathnagar and others are facing power cuts. Most of the business establishments are already taking precautionary measures by setting up sharing generators.
–Agencies