DISCOMs impose 4-8 hour power cuts in districts

• After APCPDCL, the three other DISCOMs announce load shedding

• Six-hour power cuts in district headquarters, eight hours in villages & mandals

• Power holiday for industries on cards

Hyderabad: Four days after the APCPDCL imposed scheduled power cuts in its jurisdiction, the three other power utilities -- APSPDCL, NPDCL and EPDCL -- on Tuesday announced official power cuts in their respective districts.

According to the schedule, the DISCOMs imposed four-hour power cuts in district headquarters in two spells of two hours each. While in towns and municipalities the load relief would be for six hours, in villages and mandals it would be imposed for eight hours in two spells.

APTRANSCO officials said that the increased consumption of power in the ongoing Rabi season and the just arrived summer put heavy load on the power utilities to supply required power for domestic consumption.

The demand for power has gone up to 280 mu (million units) from the present 250 mu per day. The utilities have the capacity to supply only 240 mu because the power generation from hydel and gas-based stations was nil.

DISCOM officials said that the duration for the power cuts would be increased in the peak summer in view of increasing power demand from March second week. Power holiday for the industrial sector is also under the consideration with the increasing gap between power demand and supply in the State.

Although official power cuts were imposed, the unscheduled power cuts imposed in the last one month would also continue depending on the availability of power in the villages, where agriculture activity was in full swing, the officials added.