Power consumption increases significantly in Andhra Pradesh State

Amaravati: With the increase in temperatures, the power consumption in Andhra Pradesh reached an all time high of 233.98 MU on April 2. The power consumption stands at 231 MU on April 3, 221 MU on April 4 and 225 MU on April 5.

The average power consumption in April-2019 for 9 days was recorded as 189 MU against 224 MU in April-2021 (for 9 days) with an increase of around 35 MU registering 18 per cent increase in consumption.

The present second wave of Covid pandemic also seems to be a reason for increase in power consumption as a majority of people prefer to stay indoors without venturing out fearing getting infected with the pandemic. It may be noted that AP recorded positivity rate of 8.67 per cent crossing national average of 5.87 per cent.

The power utilities are on alert in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases across the State. The State government has alerted the power utilities and asked them to prioritise power supply to domestic, agriculture and health services sectors and other essential services as well. According to officials, the government directed power utilities to maintain the same momentum in power supply and lay continuous focus on transmission and distribution in coming days also in wake of increasing power demand in the State.

The power utilities are successfully supplying the power as per the daily demand and making all out efforts to meet any demand during this summer. The utilities have prepared their action plan even keeping the Covid-19 situation in mind as the number of active corona virus cases increasing.

"As the State government has actively taken up the vaccination drive in the State, the power utilities have laid special focus on power supply to healthcare services," said Energy Secretary Srikant Nagulapalli, who addressed the power utilities staff on the occasion of Bharat Ratna Dr BR Ambedkar Jayanti at Vidyut Soudha on Wednesday.

The Energy Secretary said that the substantial increase in power demand is an indication for continuous economic activity even during present Covid pandemic.

The secretary has appreciated the engineers and employees of power sector who are working hard to meet the demand and to provide better services to the people in all seasons.

Directions have been issued to CMDs of DISCOMs and field engineers to continuously monitor the power supply to agriculture, domestic, industry and at present to the Covid vaccination centres in particular to continue the same efforts.

The officials said that the electricity demand grew significantly in March 2021 in the State when compared to previous years. The energy demand for March 2021 stood at 6605 MU against 4,817 MU in 2015-16. Similarly the peak electricity demand was recorded as 7391 MW in March 2015-16 which crossed 11,193 MW in 2020-21.

The electricity demand is expected to cross 64,000 MU this year and the power utilities have made necessary arrangements to reach the demand. The Energy Secretary said that government had asked utilities to be ready to provide uninterrupted power supply.

On other hand, the State government asked the power utilities to focus on global best practices to ensure quality power supply in the State. The AP utilities have made significant progress in saving the most in power purchases.

The power utilities officials and staff paid rich tributes to Bharat Ratna Dr B R Ambedkar at programme held in Vidyut Soudha on Wednesday.

Joint Managing Directors/APTRANSCO, K Sreedhar Reddy, K Venkateswara Rao, Director, Grid & Transmission/APTRANSCO, K Praveen kumar, Director Finance/APTRANSCO, Dr K Muthupandian, Chief Engineers, Suryachandram, A K V bhaskar, S Ananda Rao, B Laxmi Vara Meera Kumar and others participated.