Amaravati: Despite longer curfew, power consumption remains same

Amaravati: The domestic power consumption is increasing in the state with the imposition of 18 hours curfew forcing most of the people to stay indoors. The total power consumption in the state on Wednesday, the first day of curfew, stood at 200.58 million units (MU), despite closure of all establishments due from 12 noon 6 am the next day.

The total power consumption on May 4 was 202.855 MU and on May 3, 201.195 MU when there was 8 hours curfew from 10 pm to 6 am.

However, the power utilities claim that they are ready to provide uninterrupted power supply to 1.56 crore domestic consumers who stay at home during the curfew imposed due to Covid pandemic.

The annual energy consumption in the domestic sector has increased by 9.35 per cent (1446 MU) with annual consumption of 16,898 MU by the year 2020-21 as against 15,452 MU in 2019-20.

Similarly, the energy demand in the state in April last year was 156 MU a day which has substantially increased to around 209.8 MU a day in April-2021 and likely to touch a demand of 211 MU by the end of May.

While reviewing the power supply position in the context of Covid-19, energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy said that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is very keen on providing power supply even to the remotest household in the state.

Energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said that utilities have laid special focus on towers and lines, poles, precautions at substations, offices, control rooms and critical locations to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

The CMDs of the distribution companies (discoms) S Nagalakshmi, H Haranatha Rao and J Padma Janardhana Reddy explained that System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) which was around 8 hours in 2019-20 has come down to around 6 hours in 2020-21 with reduction by 27 per cent. Similarly, System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) which was around 12.75 numbers in FY2019-20 has come to 10.29 numbers in FY2020-21 with reduction of around 19 per cent.

The secretary has disclosed that one nodal officer (engineer) and two staff from discom are assigned to each of the Covid centres for ensuring 24X 7 uninterrupted power supply.