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Scorching Summer 2000 looms over AP

Our Correspondent in Hyderabad

Nicknamed "Andhera Pradesh" (Hindi: andhera=darkness; pradesh=region) by opposition parties and the irate power consumers, Andhra Pradesh is in the grip of an emerging power crisis with demand outstripping supply.

March, April and May 2000 are likely to witness prolonged power-cuts even as APTransco (one of the two successor entities of the erstwhile AP State Electricity Board) desperately tries to make both ends meet.

Transco officials admit that the summer this time may be harsher, though the consumers in the state -- particularly the household consumers -- were spared from the hefty power-cuts in the last two summers.

The demand is expected to peak at 151 million units a day during March and 146 million units a day during April, before the situation eases somewhat in May with the demand from the agricultural sector tapering off.

Right now, the power situation is precarious. The daily demand has gone upto 140 million units a day and Transco is buying up power from the central grid, eastern grid, Orissa, Maharashtra and other sources to the extent of 47 million units out of the daily supply of 129 million units.

The shortfall of 11 million units is made up through a two-hour power-cut in the rural areas and unscheduled "load-shedding" in the urban areas, barring the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad, which have been spared from the power-cuts.

"The unrestricted demand for power is 143 million units a day at present and Transco has been putting in its efforts to supply 130 million units a day. There are no power-cuts for the industry, household and commercial consumers this time.

"The farm sector is also being provided nine-hours of assured power supply a day to save the rabi crops. We are also sparing the urban areas from load-shedding in the evenings as the examinations are round the corner for the student community," a top Transco executive said.

Transco officials, who shall remain unnamed here, squarely blame the farm sector for the prevailing power shortage. Besides the 1.9 million farm pumpsets which are provided power connections, another 200,000 pumpsets are "hooked unauthorisedly" to the power lines of Transco.

"Even if we assume that 100,000 such unauthorised services draw pover, it works out to 400 mega-watt of extra load. Had we been able to cut the supply to unauthorised pumpsets, there would not have been any problem," a senior official connected with the power sector for over four decades said.

Unauthorised consumers put the genuine consumers to inconvenience through illegal tapping of power. Some of the consumers also resort to power pilferage. The agricultural sector is provided unmetered connections.

"Transco can feed all the authorised loads but it is the black sheep that are causing the problem. Political compulsions prevent us from taking any drastic action against the erring consumers, particularly the farm sector, for obvious reasons. We have over 10 million consumers spread over 264 towns and 26,586 villages. It is very difficult to police all the consumers," the senior official explained.

Transco officials cite many reasons for the present power scenario. The state has received scanty rains during the 1999 kharif season, with 50 per cent of the mandals affected by severe drought. However, this has not affected the agricultural loads since Transco has provided nine-hour-a day supply to save the standing crops.

In kharif 1999, the power consumption of the farm sector had increased by 2,167 million units compared to kharif 1998.

The state managed to ensure the supply by rescheduling the overhaul of AP Genco thermal units, thereby generating an additional 958 million units. The hydel generation was increased by 800 million units, using available water in reservoirs to the maximum extent. The state also purchased power from eastern grid and Orissa.

However, the overutilisation of hydro energy to save the crops in kharif 1999 resulted in reduced hydro availability for the rabi season. The state government's appeals to the farmers to reduce the consumption by sowing irrigated dry crops fell on deaf ears. Transco is under pressure now to ensure adequate supply to the farm sector to save the rabi crops.

Transco has indicated that it would have to resort to power-cuts on domestic and industrial consumers in the coming two months to bridge the demand-supply gap. But the industry is in no mood to bear with any more power-cuts.

"We have been crippled by power-cuts for several years now. Lot of industries have turned sick. Some big industries managed to set up captive power plants to escape from the vagaries of grid supply. We cannot suffer yet another spell of power-cuts," said a Federation of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry official.

With the shortfall of 11 million units in supply, Summer 2000 may turn out to be a harsher one. "We may have to resort to load sheddings during the peak summer months, apart from two-power cut in force since January this year. The gap during March may be a little more. We expect that much of the rabi crop will be harvested by mid-April. This will ease the situation during May. We also expect to get power from the first 164-MW unit of Kondapalli power project in the private sector during March and the second 164-MW unit in April. This should make the supply position comfortable," a Transco official pointed out.

In the meantime, the harassed power consumers curse Transco for load sheddings and other problems. They complain about low voltages, frequent burning of transformers, damage to power lines, burning of pumpset motors and household accessories due to the fluctuations in the power supply. The irregular supply and high power tariffs continue to be their bane, though that is a different story altogether.

Power subsidy for farm sector hits AP industry hard

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