Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Oct 28: The Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (PDD) Tuesday said that it is imposing curtailment of four hours in those areas having highest technical and commercial losses on local feeders.
The department also said that there were no power outages and unscheduled cuts were imposed in Kashmir valley during the last winter.
PDD Minister in a Legislative Assembly informed the house that “No unscheduled cuts were imposed in Kashmir valley during the last winter despite substantial increase in power demand on account of heating load at a time when the power availability from own generation sources remains limited.”
About the power curtailment, PDD informed that that detailed schedules of power curtailment indicating, feeder-wise, the maximum curtailment daily depending upon the loss level of the feeders were formulated and except for addressing urgent and accidental system requirements, no unscheduled distress curtailment was allowed or undertaken.
“From last winter, the linkage of curtailment to season on the basis of which the excessive curtailment in Jammu during summers and in Kashmir during winters was earlier justified, has been brought to an end,” it reads.
It also said that the scheduled curtailment is limited to zero, 2 and 4 hours for essential, below 15 percent loss feeders, 15-40 percent loss feeders, and 40 percent plus loss feeders, respectively, round the year for both Kashmir and Jammu divisions.
“There can be no additional or distress cuts in Kashmir in winter and in Jammu in summer. Any additional distress cuts necessitated by limitations of power availability are to be imposed only in Jammu from October to March, and only in Kashmir from April to September,” it reads.
The house was further informed that the department has put an end to the practice of increasing curtailment on account of increase in loss level. In such cases, disciplinary action for failure to bill and recover the energy charges is taken against the officer in-charge, instead of increasing the curtailment hours.
“This has created the incentive for the officers in-charge of the sub-divisions to ensure that there’s no slippage in billing and collection efficiencies. This is reflected in the improvement in the recovery of power dues,” reads the reply of the PDD minister.
It also said that the improvement in power supply and reliability has been maintained by the PDD despite the demand during peak winter exceeding the allocation from the Central Generating Stations and J&K’s own generation capacity.
“In certain situations, curtailment beyond scheduled hours might be necessitated by urgent and accidental system requirements, but such curtailment is reviewed and monitored by the administrative department on a regular basis to ensure that it is justified by the circumstances,” it reads.
