Power cuts cripple AP industries

Breakdowns on industrial feeders up 4.3%

Despite having been rated high by Crisil for its overall performance, the power sector in Andhra Pradesh has not improved much in terms of quality supply.

The number of interruptions and breakdowns is on the rise even on the industrial feeders, in spite of they being the single biggest source of revenue for the state power utilities.

A recent review on the performance of industrial express feeders by the state government has revealed that the number of breakdowns on them has increased by 4.3 per cent during April-October, 2005, as compared to the corresponding period last year.

In terms of actual numbers, a whopping 13,017 supply breakdowns have been reported on industrial express feeders during the first seven months of the current financial year as compared to 12,477 breakdowns in the corresponding period last year.

According to an official report, these interruptions/breakdowns have resulted in 13,988 hours of production loss to the industries. Besides causing a huge revenue loss to the power utilities themselves, these frequent trippings, fluctuations and unscheduled power cuts, which in some cases extend to more than an hour, have hampered production.

There are about 1,000 industrial express feeders catering exclusively to industrial consumers in the state. Over 25 per cent of the total annual power sales, which stands approximately at 50,000 million units, is estimated to be consumed by the industrial sector.

Over 70 per cent of the total revenue of power utilities comes from the industrial segment alone. The feeders, on which there is more than 50 per cent of industrial load, are yet to be converted into dedicated feeders, the report said.

This means that the industrial units that draw power from common feeders experience even greater interruptions, resulting in more loss of production and work hours due to power disruptions.

The rise in breakdowns are viewed as a result of inefficient handling of the system by the power utilities rather than any technical shortcoming as the power supply situation has been far better, compared to previous year, thanks to the increase in hydel generation.

At the same time, the response to the interruptions has been improved substantially, resulting in the reduction in duration of interruption to 13,988 hours from 17,520 hours during the corresponding period last year.

Officials in the Central Power Distribution Company (CPDCL)maintain that any interruption on industrial feeders is viewed very seriously by the management but the performance speaks otherwise.

In fact, the interruptions and breakdowns are the highest under CPDCL, which covers districts like Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak where majority of the industrial operations are located.

According to the report, power interruptions and breakdowns are highest in the CPDCL's limit at all the 220 KV, 132 KV, 33 KV and 11 KV industrial feeders. The total number of breakdowns in all the four Discoms during the first seven months of the current financial year is a whopping 10,786.