Electricity consumers in the State have been subjected to extremely unreliable electricity supply. Lengthy power cuts, upto twelve continuous hours in some areas, have been imposed all over the State, severely degrading the quality of life and economic welfare of people.
Ministers and officials of Government of Karnataka have been making statements since October 2008 that the situation will be improved soon by purchasing power from outside the State. But, almost all states are short of power and it is not clear from where this power will come.
After carefully studying the available power data for Karnataka, it is MGP's considered opinion that if all the available power capacity is generated and if some basic steps in demand management are taken, there should be no power shortage this summer, even without purchase of additional expensive power from elsewhere. MGP has written letters to the State government on this matter, but has received no response. Therefore, MGP has written to KERC requesting it to exercise powers given by various provisions of the IE Act (especially Sec. 86(2) which makes it mandatory for KERC to advise the government on such matters) and the KER Act to impress upon the State government to the short term and long term steps which need to be initiated urgently in the overall interest of society. MGP has also suggested some such measures. They include the following:
1. Many captive power plants in the state are not running at full capacity for want of suitable tariff mechanism. With suitable incentives they can provide peak demand support especially during summer months.ÿSuch additional generation will cost much less than power from other states and with much less transmission loss.
2. Aggregate Technical & Commercial losses in the state are about 35%, while the international levels are below 10%. Even if we reduce the losses to 15%, the norm set by the Ministry of Power, we can postpone power cuts by many years.
3. Agriculture sector which is consuming 37% of the sold energy, is wasting 40-50% of this energy since technical guidance is lacking. This loss can be avoided by a small investment of Rs. 3,000-4,000 per IP set. This step will again postpone power cuts by many years.
4. Losses in lighting, heating and motive power applications can be reduced by 15-20%. The electric supply companies can procure good quality CFL lamps and supply them to all consumers to replace incandescent lamps. Each CFL consumes only about a quarter of the energy required by an incandescent lamp to produce the same light and lasts much longer. The cost of such lamps can be passed on the consumers in installments. If all incandescent lamps are replaced by CFL lamps, the state's peak demand will fall by about 600 MW and more than 100 MU per month can be saved. One CFL lamp can save more than Rs. 300 per year in electricity usage.
5. Large scale use of solar energy for water heating in residences, hospitals, hotels etc. should be encouraged with the help of limited period subsidies and loans. If all AEH installations switch to solar water heating, about 150 MU per month can be saved.
6. Incentives should be given to commercial establishments to reduce energy consumption compared to the corresponding months of the last summer. This can significantly reduce the peak hour demand and also produce substantial energy savings.
7. Industry working hours in different parts of the state should be staggered to reduce peak hour demand. Single shift operations can operate between 9 AM and 5 PM while double shift operations can switch from morning and evening to night and morning. This measure will also reduce peak hour demand.
8. For consumers having time-of-day meters, incentives can be given for reducing the energy consumption between 5 PM and 9 PM.
9. Controlling street lighting with light sensitive switches will save enormous power.
10. Preventive maintenance schedules of existing generating stations in the State should be planned so that failure downtime during the summer months is minimized, especially during the morning and evening peak hours. Maintenance shutdowns should be avoided, as far as possible, during these months. Minor shutdown should be taken up, if absolutely required, only between 10 PM and 4 AM. Close monitoring of generating stations is a part of efficient management.
11. A concerted public awareness campaign on energy efficiency and conservation should be launched. Schools and colleges are ideal for inculcating a sense of responsibility in every individual not to waste energy.
These measures will not only eliminate the need for power cuts or for buying additional power from other states at huge costs, but they will also improve the voltage at all points of the grid, and also will provide much better quality electricity to farmers. Investment in these measures is much less than the cost of buying power from neighboring states and will produce perpetual benefits like reduced T&D losses, improved quality of electricity and economic and social welfare of the state. Assured quality of grid supply will also result in avoiding the usage of small diesel generating sets by commercial and industrial establishments, which are inefficient and cause air and noise pollution.