MD KPDCL writes to Pr Secy PDD, Seeks more power allocation to meet peek demands

Srinagar : Managing Director (MD), KPDCL, Mussarat Islam has written a letter to Principal Secretary PDD, regarding distressing power cuts prevailing in Kashmir Division.
In his letter to Principal Secretary Power Development Department the Managing Director KPDCL has that the matter was discussed on 16.11.2023 with the Chief Engineer (Distribution), KPDCL, and all Superintending Engineers of O & M Circles of Kashmir Division. The letter addressed to Principal Secretary Power further reads “Based on the inputs received from the Chief Engineer (Distribution), KPDCL, it is submitted that KPDCL implemented a ‘power curtailment schedule’ w.e.f. Ist October this year, pre-empting the expected power load forecast and anticipated upstream power availability. Load forecast, grounded in previous data & recommended forecast strategies, aimed to match last year’s performance in terms of hours of supply,” adding that “Tentatively, a load curtailment schedule for 4.5 hours was proposed for low-loss metered feeders in urban areas while as 4.5-6 hours curtailment schedule was proposed in rural metered areas. Curtailment on unmetered feeders range from 8-10 hours from urban to rural areas,” it further reads.
The letter addressed to Principal Secretary Power Development Department by the Managing Director KPDL further reads “The proposed curtailment schedule, which became effective from 01.10.2023 onwards, envisaged to accommodate load from 1400 MW from 01.10.2023 to 1600 MW by the end of December 2023, based on previous year experience and data. However, power supply adherence to the curtailment schedule has faced severe challenges , notably due to distress cuts prompted by advisories issued by SLDC.”
Managing Director’s letter to Principal Secretary also reads “As your good self is aware, power allocation to KPDCL has witnessed significant reduction this year, approximately around 1200-1300 MW, compared to 1600-1700 MW last year at this point of time. Your good self may kindly note that as compared to last year , the current monthly daily energy consumption is lesser by 30 to 40 lakh units.”
The letter addressed by the Managing Director KPDL to Principal Secretary further reads “This unexpected drop raises concerns about sustaining the desired level of performance and underscores the need to address reported distress cuts and stabilize power supply situation in Kashmir Division. It will not be out of place to mention here that these unscheduled and frequent distress cuts effected at Grid level, owing to reduced allocation, has led to unstable load curve, leading to a cascading effect of higher peak loads & stress on power infra, thereby further aggravating the power scenario and curtailment.”
The concluding para of the MD KPDCL letter addressed to Principal Secretary Power reads “In order to address the current power demand effectively, your good self is requested to kindly take up the matter for increase in power allocation to KPDCL so as to meet the average peak demand on implementation of curtailment schedule and stabilization of power scenario. In absence of sufficient committed allocation as per previous year’s precedence and current load scenario, KPDCL will be left with no option but to revise the present curtailment schedule, potentially resulting in lesser hours of power supply”.