48-hour after announcement, JPDCL withdraws power curtailment schedule

Jammu, May 29:  Within 48-hour after announcing its “new power curtailment schedule summer-24” for the whole division, Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) Wednesday issued a public notice to withdraw it (curtailment schedule) with immediate effect.

Notably, almost the entire Jammu division has been facing a gruelling heat wave for the past over a fortnight or so.

As per the public notice issued by Managing Director JPDCL, Vikas Kundal, the curtailment schedule, issued by Chief Engineer (Distribution) JPDCL vide no: CEJ/TS-II/906-20 dated May 27, 2024, has been withdrawn with immediate effect, “in view of the improvement in power infrastructure by way of capacity addition and repairs of 2x50MVA, 132/66KV Power Transformer at Grid Station Samba and 10MVA, 33/11kV Power Transformer at Miran Sahib.”

On May 27, JPDCL, through its “new power curtailment schedule summer-24” had announced 4 hour power curtailment in urban areas and 8 hours in rural areas on a daily basis. As per the schedule, the curtailment was to be effected in three shifts—morning, afternoon and evening.

Prior to it, on May 25, Kundal had stated that in a major decision, JPDCL had completed the process of buying additional 200 MW power for Jammu and this would bring huge respite for the people (of Jammu) during the ongoing scorching summer season. He had stated that the authorities were making best efforts to ensure smooth power for the general public.

“The current quota of power for Jammu province was 1200 MW while with the frantic efforts of the LG administration the quota has been increased to 1400 MW,” he had informed.

Yet on May 27, a new power curtailment schedule was announced.

Today, MD JPDCL, however, through public notice, specified that the Corporation would provide 24x7 power supply in smart metered areas and up to 20 hours power supply in other areas.

“However, JPDCL will have to resort to distressed curtailments in order to safeguard the critical power infrastructure as and when required. The general public is requested to exercise prudence in electricity usage due to the soaring demand of electricity driven by the unprecedented rise in temperatures and the severe heat wave. The public is further advised to pay their electricity dues in time through online or offline mode,” Kundal stated.

An official spokesperson announced that the Managing Director JPDCL also visited the State Load Dispatch Corporation office and reviewed the availability of power for Jammu region and said that with the purchase of additional 200 MW of power, JPDCL would be able to supply smooth and uninterrupted power to the smart metered areas and also provide relief to the rural areas by reducing the curtailment hours.

He was accompanied by Chief Engineer Distribution Manhar Gupta, Chief Engineer System and Operations Rajan Gupta, Executive Engineer IT&C Anil Verma and Executive Engineer, ED-II Sh. Ashok Chibber among others.

“MD JPDCL issued on spot orders that maintenance and repair works should be planned in such a manner that there should be no inconvenience to the general public and there should be no long hour outages even in rural areas. He also issued instructions that no shut downs should be allowed in the peak summer season,” the spokesperson said.

During the visit, it was informed that 160 MVA, 220/132 KV Auto Transformer at Gladni grid had also been brought into the circuit by JKPTCL on May 29. “The transformer is now running in parallel with 400 MVA Auto Transformer bank. This will help in reducing the infrastructure challenges for JPDCL and issues of forced curtailment due to temperature rise of transformer shall subside with this step,” the spokesperson said.

He said that the Managing Director Vikas Kundal exhorted the staff to come down heavily on the illegal hooking and conduct regular connection to provide relief to honest consumers. He reviewed the SCADA system installed at Gladni Grid and complimented the fact that such technological advancements were being used to monitor and control systems at the parent Grid which feeds power to maximum areas of Jammu region.

To check power theft, earlier on May 21, the JPDCL had announced to lodge FIR against erring consumers who were involved in power stealing by means of hooking and bypassing of meters including Smart meters.

Managing Director JPDCL had instructed the AEEs to lodge FIR under section 135 of Electricity Act, 2003 against those who were found to be indulging in Power theft.

According to the Act, power theft will be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.