To tide over the present power crisis due to unprecedented demand of power and severe shortage of gas and failure of monsoon and consequent drastic reduction in Hydel generation, the State Government has decided to adopt 6-point programme for creating wide range awareness among the consumers and public on the significance and impact of conservation of energy for the benefit of both utilities and consumers as well.
The ultimate objective of the Govt./Power utilities is to make the energy conservation a successful mission towards achieving the estimated energy savings of around 10,000 MU in the state through Public Participation, Media Encouragement, Involving Local Administration, Motivating Govt. Employees, Promotion of Renewable Energy and Aggressive Communication Strategy.
Disclosing these details, M. Sahoo, Prl. Secretary, Energy, who reviewed the power scenario in the State, with Hiralal Samariya, CMD/APTRANSCO and CMDs of DISCOMs G. Anantha Ramu, Ahmed Nadeem, Ch. Narasimha Reddy and K. Vidyasagar Reddy during the teleconference held today, said that the state is experiencing abnormal demand due to severe scarcity of fuel and mentioned that energy conservation is the need of the hour at this critical juncture.
While approving the action plan submitted by Energy Co-ordination Cell, on behalf of DISCOMs, the Prl. Secretary has emphasized the immediate need to impress upon them to conserve the precious energy by implementing aggressive campaigning on Energy Conservation and efficiency measures to reduce the ever increasing demand supply gap to the maximum extent possible.
He further directed power utilities to work out modalities for announcing the cash awards to the best energy conserving consumers of all categories as a token of recognition of their contribution towards conservation.
To ensure Public Participation, special and mass communication programmes would be conducted on energy conservation involving farmer organizations, Self Help Groups (SHG), NGOs and all sections of the society is very much effective in scaling up the programs. In the present context, print & electronic media will play a pivotal role in bringing awareness among the general public on Energy Conservation measures. Requesting the print & electronic media, the fourth estate to provide much needed impetus for wide range awareness. Partnering with TV channels, FM Radios to promote & encourage conservation activities will have a great influence over the general public. Involving local administration including collectors, Zilla parishad chairmen, ZPTCs, MPTCs and Sarpanches for providing effective support and exemplify the energy conservation & efficiency programmes.
Motivating Employees, through organizing seminars, conferences on Energy Conservation by involving the representatives from Industry associations such as FAPCCI, CII, FICCI and Head of the Departments of key sectors like Agriculture, Industry, IT, R&B, Municipalities, Education, PWD, Rural Development, etc., will motivate & create sense of responsibility among all cadres of employees. Especially the Govt. employees of Secretariat & Vidyut Soudha shall become an example to others by taking up of energy conservation not only at their offices but also at homes. To promote Renewable Energy sources such as solar, wind, and other alternatives to utilize the natural resources to the maximum extent and to reduce the burden on the grid to some extent. The success of energy conservation programmes depends on the extent of awareness created among the consumers and general public. To achieve this, an efficient communication strategy is going to be adopted at State, District and Mandal levels. Meanwhile, the Govt. has suggested the CMD/APTRANSCO to oversee the implementation of energy conservation activities in the State.(NSS)