Industries in Andhra Pradesh will face up to 15 days of power holiday in a month.
Domestic consumers in Hyderabad and other major cities will have to bear a three-hour daily cut.
Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd today announced a new power cut schedule citing growing demand supply gap.
AP Transco today directed Discoms to strictly ensure that the farm sector gets seven hours of power supply as per the Government policy.
After nearly three days of silence, AP Transco announced Hyderabad, Tirupathi and Warangal will have three hours of power cuts and district headquarters and corporations five hour cut per day. Towns, municipalities and mandal headquarters will face up to six hours of power cuts.
In rural areas consumers will get power during 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and again during seven hour supply for the farm sector operations.
AP Transco said there is severe power shortage due to poor gas supply for power plants and low level in reservoirs hampering hydel power output.
The demand has shot up due to erratic monsoon. There is also the problem of non-availability of corridor for the Southern Grid, which limits additional purchase.
The demand supply shortage has gone up to 67 million units per day, or about 25 per cent.
Small-scale industries covering spinning mills, life-saving drugs and seed processing will have a 12-day holiday in a month.
Poultry, rice mills and cold storages will be subjected to 40 per cent power cut with restrictions during peak hours in the evening.
Singareni Collieries, drinking water supply, Government hospitals, railway traction, airport and defence have been exempted from power cuts.
Industrialists from 18 industrial estates in and around Hyderabad took to protests seeking proper power supply. They were supported by local politicians and scores of incidents of sub-stations being surrounded were reported.
TRS members thronged Vidyut Soudha building demanding seven hours power supply be ensured to the farm sector. Some of the TRS members were arrested for staging a dharna.
Addressing a press conference, B.V.Rama Rao, President, FAPI, said the Government needs to ensure that small industries, which provide maximum employment get proper power supply or else they will close down, people will be without jobs and this will eventually lead to defaults. They will become non- performance assets.