Less than a month after assuring least power outages this season, the power development department (PDD) has decided to increase curtailment hours in Kashmir.
As per its new curtailment schedule to be implemented in few days, the daily curtailment in non-metered areas will be increased to 7.5 hours from the present 4 hours, officials said. “The daily curtailment in metered areas will be 4.5 hours from present three hours.”
An official claimed that there was a “major increase” in the consumption this year, which “forced the department to increase the curtailment”.
“According to our own ground survey, the COVID has led to the increase in the consumption. People avoid sitting in same room. Many families prefer to keep elderly and others with flu symptoms in separate rooms leading to increased power usage,” said the official.
Chief Engineer, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL), Aijaz Ahmed Dar said that they have decided to increase the curtailment hours as the load during peak hours has increased rapidly.
He said that despite department’s tireless efforts and increased ground checks, consumers are resorting to use of “crude gadgets and second service line putting extra load on the system”.
“We will be implementing the new schedule in next 2 to 3 days,” Dar said.
On November 7, the department had come up with the first winter curtailment schedule terming it to be the least curtailment in years.
