Amid uproar, JPDCL claims to boost power supply by 16.7% to meet summer demand

Jammu, July 20: Amid growing uproar over unscheduled, long and frequent power cuts in gruelling hot and humid days even in metered areas contrary to its assertions, Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) Saturday claimed to have boosted power supply by 16.7 percent to meet summer demand.

The region is also witnessing public outcry over the lackadaisical approach in repair and maintenance of power infrastructure, mainly transformers, frequently getting damaged due to overloading and other reasons, adding to woes of people.

JPDCL Managing Director Vikas Kundal has stated that the Corporation has successfully supplied an additional 2000 lakh units of power to meet the increasing demand during the peak summer season.

“This brings the total power supply to 14000 lakh units, a significant increase of 16.71 percent compared to the previous year's supply of 12000 lakh units. We are committed to providing smooth and uninterrupted power to the people of Jammu. Our team has worked tirelessly to reduce the turnaround time for transformer repairs and we are augmenting our infrastructure under RDSS to provide extra power to the people,” he said.

Kundal added, “We understand the importance of reliable power supply during the hot summer months, and we are working judiciously to minimize interruptions. The additional supply of power is a result of the synergy between various wings of JPDCL, and we appreciate the appreciation from the people of Jammu for our efforts to ensure quality power supply.”

He stated that JPDCL's efforts resulted in a significant reduction in power outages, with only a few instances reported.

“The Corporation is committed to continuing its efforts to provide reliable and quality power supply to the people of Jammu. The demand for electricity in homes and businesses increases during the summer season. This is primarily because of the need for Cooling appliances such as Air Conditioners, air coolers etc. Over the years this surge in demand has prompted the JPDCL to strategize and invest in additional power resources to meet the energy needs of the region effectively. The move to provide extra units of power supply underscores JPDCL’s commitment to addressing the power shortages and voltage fluctuations that have plagued the region during the summer months,” JPDCL MD said.

According to Kundal, the two main issues JPDCL faced in the peak of summer were the use of crude gadgets especially low efficiency Air Conditioners and illegal hooking.

“We want consumers to cooperate so that we can give our best service. If people use electricity judiciously and pay as per the consumption then there won’t be many power cuts,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, Executive Engineer Electric Division- Parade, in a clarification, said that he catered to 65000 consumers and roughly 2373 Distribution Transformers (DTs).

“The average damage rate of these DTs is one or two in a day and they are replaced within eight hours,” he said.

Executive Engineer Electric Division- Gandhi Nagar said that he catered to 170000 consumers and roughly 10000 Distribution Transformers.

“The average damage rate of these DTs is six or seven in a day and are replaced within eight hours,” he said.

Executive Engineer Electric Division- Janipur said that he catered to 168000 consumers and roughly 5800 Distribution Transformers. The average damage rate of these DTs was six or seven in a day and they would be replaced within eight hours.

Executive Engineer Sub Transmission Division- II who caters to 50 percent of Jammu and Samba districts said that there were around 147 receiving stations with installed capacity of 1330 MVA, other than one receiving station namely Bahu Fort which experienced regular faults due to overloading.

Chief Engineer Projects JPDCL Jammu, in his statement, said, “RDSS works are going on in the entire province of Jammu and due to which sometimes shut downs are needed which are publicized well in advance. Similarly sometimes shutdowns are availed by PGCIL, NHIDCL for carrying out infrastructure works. However, Grid constraints sometimes enforce the curtailment from their end also.”