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After Day 1 of the power holiday system introduced by the TANGEDCO, Coimbatore's industrialists fear their problems are getting compounded as the cumulative power cut would top 70 per cent, that is, as much as 17 hours a day.
They are also peeved at the reported denial of third party power purchase by TANGEDCO during power holidays and fear that industries would have no alternative but to resort to lay off.
Mr Mahendra Ramdas, President, Tamilnadu Electricity Consumers Association (TECA), Coimbatore, told Business Line that TANGEDCO could have “devised a more equitable way of sharing” power shortage among various consumers, considering that HT (high tension or industrial) consumers contribute only to 800 MW/day load, whereas the shortage is 3000-4000 MW.
He said considering the 8-9 power holidays a month, peak hour restriction and 40 per cent cut on maximum demand and the four-hour scheduled power cut, power outages add up to 72 per cent.
Even in January, when the situation was better, the production loss was about 40 per cent. But after the new R&C measures have come into force, all HT consumers can work barely 50 hours a week. Genset is not an option for all HT consumers because of the high operating cost.
Mr Ramdas fears that workers may have to be laid off during power holidays. Badly hit by the power situation, sections of the spinning sector have moved to other States, where power and other factors were favourable. Auto components and foundry segments too could move out.
Mr.Ramdas, who is Managing Director of Mahendra Pumps Pvt Ltd, said consumers were ready to cooperate with TANGEDCO to tide over the power crisis by buying power from third parties or through power exchanges.
But TANGEDCO has said that HT consumers can purchase third party/exchange power daily during day time peak hours and night off peak hours but not during “power holidays and load shedding period.”
The same condition applies to wheeling energy from wind mill/CPP during day time peak hours and night offpeak hours “except power holidays and load shedding period.”
TANGEDCO does this because power supply is through single line.
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