Unofficial power shut down hits industry in AP

Hyderabad, Industries in Andhra Pradesh have been hit by an "unofficial" power shut down being imposed since the past two days, besides the standard four-hour cuts during peak hours.

"Unofficially, power cuts are imposed in the state. As it is we (the industry) have been facing the standard four-hour power cuts during peak hours for the past few months.

"With the unofficial power cut, we are forced to make alternative arrangements which put lot of burden on our financials," Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) Vice President Anil Reddy said here.

He said that the state's economy would be hit badly since the situation is expected worsen during summer.

"We have more industries situated in the region. Besides, farmers of the region mostly depend on pump sets for irrigation," Reddy said.

Andhra Pradesh Energy Co-ordination Cell Member Secretary Chandrasekhar Reddy said that currently the state is short of 18 million units of power, due to which power cuts have to be implemented.

"The high demand supply gap is due to variety of reasons. Most of the gas-based power plants in the state are idle due to shortage of gas," the official said.

Two days ago, the Central Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh (CPDCL) 'officially' announced the power cut schedules for domestic consumers, ranging from two to eight hours, in various places in the region, including Hyderabad.

There is a demand-supply gap of over 20 million units of power, especially due to the ongoing rabi crop operations and increasing demand, the company had said earlier.

The managing director of a pharma manufacturing company said, that his firm is forced to buy power at higher costs due to power cuts in the state.

"Though we have diesel generators as a back-up solution, fuel is very costly and we cannot use it continuously. This forces us to buy power in the open market," the drug maker said.

A senior official in the state's Power Department said the sudden spurt in power usage by the agriculture sector has forced the government to impose power cuts well ahead of summer.

FAPPCI, which was critical of the 'huge' power subsidy to the power sector had said earlier that power cuts would adversely impact 1.16 lakh small scale industries in the state, employing 30 lakh people.
-PTI