Power crisis goes from worse to worst, even as tariff spikes

Power crisis goes from worse to worst, even as tariff spikes

JKPDCL Chief Engineer blames people for consuming ‘more than agreement’

Srinagar: Power supply across Kashmir valley is hitting new lows with each passing day of the bitter winter, despite a recent steep hike in power tariff.
To add insult to injury, the Chief Engineer of the Jammu and Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation (JKPDCL), Javed Dar, blames the consumers for the pathetic power supply in the valley.
“There is a breach in the agreement, and it affects the whole supply chain,” Dar told Kashmir Reader. “People are consuming way more electricity than they are supposed to.”
He said that it leads to an overload of transformers, feeders, and subsequently the receiving stations, leading to power cuts. “People need to understand that if they have a certain agreement with us, they have to consume power according to that and not more than that,” Dar said.
On the ground, people scoff at Dar’s argument, and assert that they are facing the worst power scenario in years. “What about the metered areas then? We do not have agreements and we pay as per we consume electricity. Why is it then that we are facing such a grave and pathetic power supply?” Sameer Ahmad, a resident of main town Anantnag, told Kashmir Reader.
Sameer said that on Monday, Anantnag town did not get even 15 minutes of power supply between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM. “And then they have the audacity to blame the people as if people were operating commercial boilers in their homes,” he said.
The situation is the same all across Kashmir valley and what has added to the people’s misery is the hike in the power tariff. In November, the JKPDCL enforced an 8 to 12 percent hike in power tariff for all consumers, including domestic and commercial.
“Till August we were paying around 700 rupees a month in electricity bills and now we have to pay double the amount. Despite that we are getting at most three to four hours of power supply per day, that too in bits and parts,” a resident of Khonmoh area, on the outskirts of Srinagar, told Kashmir Reader.
Even metered areas in Srinagar city and other parts of the valley are facing acute shortage of electricity.
“They had recently issued a power curtailment schedule and it has been a cruel joke ever since. We are getting fifteen minutes of power supply every couple of hours,” a Srinagar resident told Kashmir Reader.
On Sunday, former minister and People’s Conference leader Imran Raza Ansari took a dig at the JKPDCL for the pathetic power supply. “Is the department of electricity also on Darbar move? Asking a question directly to Manoj Sinha,” Raza tweeted.

 

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