Power demand in Hyderabad up by 16 per cent

Hyderabad: While the increase in power consumption has been estimated to be at a rate of 10 percent an annum in recent years, the rate at which consumption in Hyderabad is rising is close to 16 per cent.

This puts extra burden on the city’s transmission infrastructure, making it stand at less than half the requirement.

There are more than 300 transformers being installed when the actual need of the city is close to 1,000. “The city is growing very fast and not only is there a need for installing new transmission lines, feeders and transformers, there is also a huge demand for upgrading the feeder and transformer capacity. It usually takes about four to five months to build a new transformer. The demand has   gone up exponentially in the city’s suburban areas,” said a senior official.

High density residential areas and mushrooming suburban residential hubs are a primary reason for the quantum jump in energy consumption.

“The per capita consumption in the city has increased by six per cent in the past years. Upgrading the infrastructure is lagging behind and is the main reason behind the continuous breakdowns as the system is not enough to support the load,” added the official.