Drought leads to high power consumption in Telangana

With no rain but sporadic showers, farmers had to use groundwater, leading to an unusual increase in electricity consumption, officials said.

Hyderabad: Electricity consumption, particularly in the agricultural sector, has increased over the past two weeks as the state’s dry spell is likely to continue into next week. On July 13, the state’s total electricity consumption topped 240 million units, compared to 122 million units on the same day last year.

With no rain but scattered showers, farmers had no choice but to use groundwater, leading to an unusual increase in electricity consumption, especially in northern and central regions, officials said.

Electricity consumption usually falls during the monsoon season, especially in the agricultural sector, but this prolonged drought has led to a gradual and steady increase in electricity consumption, almost reaching pre-monsoon levels. Electricity has to be purchased from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) at a maximum price of Rs 10 per kWh, officials revealed. Discoms have spent more than Rs. The open-ended power procurement cost Rs 200 crore in July, and the payout will amount to Rs 200 crore if the drought persists. 5 billion rupees.

Officials noted that the spike in electricity use in the agricultural sector could be attributed to farmers using automatic motor starters. The problem is compounded by the fact that nearly 80% of agricultural pump sets are equipped with automatic starters. This has led to overuse of electricity and rapid depletion of groundwater, a senior official said. There are more than 2.75 million farm boreholes in the state.

Shocked power officials also urged farmers to stop using automatic starters because they can cause damage to transformers. The officials explained that the state government buys electricity at a high rate and if farmers keep running their motors, electricity consumption will increase and the government will bear a heavy financial burden.

They claim that more than 6,000 transformers burned across the state last month due to the continued operation of agricultural drilling, and the government had to spend huge sums to replace them.

more details:

Single-day electricity demand: 240 million units
Electricity demand on the same day last year: Rs 122 crore
Power Purchase Amount: Rs. 2 billion rupees
Number of drilled connections: 2.75 million