Srinagar: With the arrival of winter and increased demand for power in Kashmir, Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has announced a curtailment plan.
According to the curtailment schedule, non-metered areas would face electricity cuts for 8 hours a day while metered areas would face 4.5-hour power cuts a day.
The power curtailment schedule has been divided into three parts.
In metered areas, the power supply will remain shut for 1.5 hours of shift each in the morning, noon, and evening.
In the non-metered areas, load shedding would be for 2 hours in four different time slots.
However, no power cut would be enforced on essential feeders.
A senior KPDCL official said that the corporation had no other option than to resort to power curtailments.
“Consumers are not using power judiciously. In November our peak demand touched over 1700 megawatts,” he said. “We have time and again requested people to use power judiciously, but unfortunately they are not paying heed as a result of which the only option left with us is to announce a power curtailment schedule.”
The KPDCL official said that though the electricity demand had peaked, the revenue collection was still at par with that of the previous year.
“We are experiencing revenue losses in this situation since we are supplying more energy but realising less income,” he said and urged people to support the KPDCL.
“We are taking severe action against power thieves, and our employees are conducting inspections,” the KPDCL official said.
He said that the KPDCL has increased power transmission capacity and ensured that the power curtailment in Kashmir last winter was lesser compared to previous years.
According to officials, the increase in power transmission capacity was mainly due to the commissioning of new transmission lines.
They said that this curtailment schedule was only for the Srinagar district and that the officials would take a call for other districts as per energy supply and demand.
On Friday, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole said that the public’s support for paying electricity bills and metering was related to the availability of power supply and that feeders in better response areas would receive greater power supply.
He said that there should be a 25 percent increase in the demand for electricity during winter and that it was imperative to take requisite measures to ensure the availability of electricity.
The divisional commissioner also directed the implementation of the power amnesty scheme strictly to achieve the set target within the shortest period.
He stressed the seizure of crude electric appliances from markets and action against power theft.