KSEBOA - KSEB Officers' Association

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Privatisation of power sector is not helping the capital to solve its power woos. With powercuts lasting three to four hours continuing to frustrate city residents during last 4-5 days, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit called a high-level meeting of the Power department to assess the situation. The private distribution companies were also directed by the government to buy as much power as possible. Meanwhile, with complaints pouring in from consumers regarding the arbitrary pattern of loadshedding, Dikshit advised discoms to “truthfully explain their difficulties, efforts and facts to consumers so that they might be kept abreast with the ground realities and expected difficulties”. DERC had already sent showcause to Reliance for arbitrary pattern of loadshedding.

Consumers have also been facing low voltage problems. This, as discussed in the meeting, is a result of overdrawal from the Northern Grid. When all states start overdrawing from the Northern Grid, the frequency at which the power is transmitted dips, leading to low voltage. And no good news seems to be in store. “We discussed the power scenario in the city. There is a power shortage all over the Northern Grid region and even though discoms are now willing to buy power at rates as high as Rs 17, there is very little power available across the Northern region. Given the scenario, loadshedding will have to continue,” Rajendra Kumar, Delhi Power Secretary, said.

“Due to the extreme weather conditions, power consumption has risen this year by almost 10 per cent. We want to request people to co-operate with the government at this stage because a certain amount of loadshedding is likely to continue. Discoms have, however, been advised to stick to loadshedding on a rotational basis for one hour, or two hours in extreme cases,” Kumar added.

An official statement released by the Chief Minister’s Office read, “The whole country is going through a very prolonged dry spell associated with unprecedented high temperatures and humidity and abnormal increase in consumption in Delhi in comparison to last year. Nobody had imagined a 40 degree temperature in the month of August. This has resulted in powercuts in certain areas.”

It was also revealed in the meeting that even in the cases where discoms were able to purchase power, it could not be brought to Delhi due to constraints in the transmission corridor. “Rotational loadshedding had to be resorted to throughout yesterday because of low frequency and clogging of transmission lines, which could not carry purchased power to Delhi,” the statement mentioned. 

Source- India Express