Urban areas in State to get 24/7 power supply

Special Correspondent
Rural areas to get 12-hour single-phase supply
BANGALORE: Keeping an eye on the urban vote bank in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the State Government has decided to supply uninterrupted power round the clock in urban areas of the State.

Minister for Energy K.S. Eshwarappa on Friday told presspersons that all electricity supply companies (Escoms) had been instructed to ensure 24-hour power supply in all urban centres and the decision would come into effect in a couple of days. Rural areas would get 12-hour single phase power from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The power situation had improved compared with last week and the demand had declined from 142 million units to 136 million units as some parts of the State received rain, he said.

Stating that there has been a delay in the supply of power from Gujarat, he said that State had agreed to supply 100 MW to the Karnataka grid from Saturday. A sum of Rs. 1,880 crore had been spent to purchase power from different sources during the last four months.

A sum of Rs. 500 crore would be required to buy power from other States and private producers in March, he said.

Steps had been taken to meet the gap between demand and supply and there was no dearth of money to buy power.

Jindal Power, which is now supplying 200 MW from its second captive generation unit in Bellary, would supply another 100 MW from its third unit soon, Mr. Eshwarappa said.

To tackle the demand in April, the Government has signed an agreement with Lanco Power Ltd., an Andhra Pradesh-based company, which has agreed to supply 200 MW from next month at a cost of Rs. 9.37 a unit, he said.

The Minister, who held a meeting with Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa regarding the power situation a couple of days ago, said steps would be taken to reduce transmission and distribution loss from the present 27 per cent to 17 per cent in the next two years.
Source Hindu