ACs burn up 9% AP power

ACs burn up 9% AP power

Union power ministry has recorded that southern states have higher growth in domestic consumption than other regions.

Power officials have at last discovered the reason for the zooming consumption of electricity: The increasing number of air conditioners.

A recent study by the Central Electricity Authority has revealed that air conditioners in the city consumed 600 megawatts of power against the overall consumption of 7,000 MW every day, or nearly 8.5 per cent.

“It was amazing to see that 600 MW of power was consumed by air-conditioners in Hyderabad city alone,” said Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for power.

“We have information that this year alone about 3 lakh new air-conditioners were installed in Hyderabad.” AP Transmission Corporation (Transco) officials who studied for the reason for the nearly 27 per cent spike in power demand this year found that 14.5 per cent was due to increased number of air-conditioners.

The Union power ministry has recorded that southern states have recorded higher growth in domestic power consumption as compared to other regions.

This spike in domestic consumption is making power management impossible in almost all states. In cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, the difference between peak hours — early mornings and evenings — and off-peak power consumption has been eroding.

“Earlier we used to plan for peak time and off-peak hours separately. But now the trend has completely changed,” said a senior official with Transco. “Managing day-time power supply has become a challenge.” The Central Electricity Authority has noticed that increasing use of home appliances such as washing machines, mixer-grinders, electrical ovens and dish washers have changed the composition of domestic power usage.

“It was agriculture which used to trouble the power sector planners, but now it can’t be blamed for the unprecedented increase in the demand,” said Mr Ajay Jain, managing director of APGenco. “We have to factor in the domestic sector for our future plans.”

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