Fall in generation, coal supply issues blamed for power crisis in A.P.

Surge in demand because of summer has resulted in a deficit of 50 MUs per day 

The steep increase in the price of coal from ₹8,000 per tonne to nearly ₹40,000 per tonne due to prevailing fuel shortage across India and the impact of Russia-Ukraine war on global supplies have become the critical issues being faced by the power utilities in Andhra Pradesh. 

There has also been a surge in demand for electricity because of summer, which resulted in a deficit of 50 million units (MU) per day.  As a consequence, the DISCOMs had to resort to Emergency Load Relief (ELR). However, Energy Secretary B. Sreedhar, in a review meeting on Sunday, reiterated that the power outages are a temporary phenomenon. 

According to an official release, the total energy demand in all sectors in 2018-19 fiscal year was 63,605 MUs, which increased to 68,905 MUs in 2021-22 financial year.  The increase in domestic, industrial and agricultural categories was 32%,  6% and 16% respectively. 

In spite of the setbacks, orders have been issued to continue the existing day-time power supply to the agriculture sector to ensure that the standing crops do not wither away as harvesting will be nearing completion by the end of April. 

Besides, priority is being given to ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the domestic sector. 

The release further said that power generation in the State and at the Central generating stations had decreased due to low coal stocks. Several States are now relying on procurement from the exchanges to meet the burgeoning grid consumption.

The energy demand is forecast to increase to 6,720 MUs in April, 2022 when compared to 5,721 MUs in the corresponding month in 2019. The peak demand was 8,984 MW in March, 2019 and it is expected to escalate to 13,000 MW for 2022-23 financial year. The high demand is attributed to a rebound in the economic activities to the pre-COVID levels.