Staggered holidays reduce power consumption

BANGALORE: Seems like the industries have accepted the staggered holidays with open arms, which were introduced to deal with the acute power shortage in the state. After initial skepticism and rejection due to logistical problems, there is a healthy percentage of city-based industries’ compliancy with the concept, thus helping the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) reduce peak hour load.“In the first week many  were unsure. This week however, we are seeing up to 80 per cent of compliance from industries. We expect this to go up to 90 per cent in the coming weeks,” said Prakash Raikar, president, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA). He urged the BESCOM to carry out routine repairs and maintenance work with the holidays announced for the  areas concerned.“About 70-100 MW of power is being freed everyday due to this system. Though there were initial hiccups due to the short notice period, the concept of staggered holidays is serving the purpose,” said a BESCOM official. He also stated that maintenance of the network would be programmed on the appropriate days.The official added that BESCOM is supplying uninterrupted power to areas on remaining days which is affected only in case of major breakdowns. On the question of compliance he said, “We will look at disconnecting power to non-complying industries after which they should fall in line.” He accepted that a few industries which worked round the clock were not benefited. “We certainly support the concept in principle.  More difficulties will come in summer so we will have a meeting in a few weeks to discuss the logistics involved,” Raikar said.