Unofficial power cuts taking a toll on SMEs in AP, T

The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are considered as back bone of industrial economy are battling a new problem in the newly-created Telangana state as well as residual Andhra Pradesh: Unscheduled power cuts.

“We were happy when the Telangana government reduced power holidays for industry to a single day and made efforts to improve power supply. But the unscheduled power cuts are hitting industries hard,” J Nageswar Rao, President, Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Association (Fapsia), told The Hans India.

He however hoped that government would look into the issue and see to it that the unofficial powers are minimized. “It’s a new government. So, we can’t blame it because any new government needs some time to settle down,” he maintained.

Several industrial units in Nacharam and other industrial areas are suffering on account of the unofficial power cuts. “Power supply is being cut to the industries for one to two hours every day on one pretext or the other. On some days, this happens two to three times a day. When we contact electricity officials, we get the routine reply of ‘there is no incoming power’”, an industrialist lamented. Some sectors like chemicals and paper which need continuous power are the worst-hit, he pointed out.
According to him, the unscheduled power cuts have increased in the recent weeks. “The unofficial power cuts increased substantially in the new Telangana state.

Though we have some unofficial power sheddings in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the number and frequency has increased now,” the industrialist explained.

Concurring with his views, A P K Reddy, president, Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (FSME), said that unofficial power cuts were taking a heavy toll on the industrial units both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “Electricity department is stopping power supply several times a day and the cumulative unscheduled power interruptions are stretching beyond three hours on some days. Officials come up with lame duck excuses when industrialists confront them on this issue,” he explained.
Reddy further said that these interruptions are causing immense damage to chemical, plastic, food processing and forging units which require continuous power. “Such units need uninterrupted power supply. If there is a power interruption even for a minute, it takes a long time to restart production in the units,” he said.

In addition, production units located in districts are in a far worse situation when it comes to the unscheduled power cuts. This is so because most of them are linked to either domestic or agriculture feeders. “In areas such as Bhongir in Nalgonda district where a large number of clinker and other industrial units are located, power supplies are regularly irregular and people can’t even predict when power is cut or supplied,” Reddy added.

He further said owners of industries in districts have no other option except live with the power cuts. “They get power through agriculture feeders. So if they want to complain, they have to go all the way to district head quarters,” he explained.

Suggesting to the government to set up exclusive power feeders for industries across both the states, Reddy said continuous quality power would only save the SMEs from the extinction. “Power crisis and unviable non-performing asset (NPA) norms are killing the SMEs. Governments should step in to rescue SMEs from the two main problems,” he pointed out.

According to rough estimates, Telangana has 20 to 21 per cent power shortage every day when compared with the consumption demand, due to fall in hydel power generation and also low power generation capacity in the new state. However, the situation is comparatively better in Andhra Pradesh which is home to a significant number of power plants. The undivided AP is home to over 7 lakh MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) units with Telangana accounting for major chunk of 65 units while the residual AP has 35 per cent of them.

V Anil Reddy, Sr Vice President, Fapcci, said that the Telangana government reduced power cuts to the industries despite the fact that there was huge gap between demand and supply in the state.

“Government increased power cuts for domestic and commercial segment, but it is providing better power supply for industrial sector,” Reddy maintained. He however said that government should make some special arrangements for continuous process industries which need uninterrupted power supply.