5 minutes in urban,2 hour12 minutes in rural
PNS|Hyderabad
In Telangana, power cuts last a maximum of five minutes in urban areas and at least two hours and 12 minutes in rural areas, data tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, RK Singh.
Telangana’s rural areas are getting power supply for an average of 21 hours and 48 minutes a day. Urban areas get power supply for 23 hours and 55 minutes a day.
The data tabled in the Lok Sabha gave the State-wise average hours of power supply in a day in the last five years till March 2023.
The average power supply in rural Telangana is declining. In 2018, 22.05 hours of power supply was given, followed by 22.22 hours in 2019, 22 hours in 2021, 21.94 hours in 2022 and 21.79 hours in 2023. Urban areas’ average power supply is 23.9 hours across all years in Telangana.
Rural areas in India get an average of 20 hours of electricity supply a day and urban areas 23.8 hours a day.
The average power supply in the urban areas of Delhi, Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Meghalaya is more than in the urban areas of Telangana.If the average of power cuts in rural and urban areas is taken, then Andhra Pradesh fares better than Telangana. Interestingly, in Andhra Pradesh, the average power cut in rural areas is only 29 minutes while in urban areas it is just seven minutes.
Under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) Rs 452 crore has been disbursed to Telangana and Rs 292 crore as per the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) since 2014-15.
On whether 24 hours of power is being supplied in the country, RK Singh said, “Electricity is a concurrent subject and its supply/distribution to consumers in urban and rural areas falls primarily under the purview of State Governments. The GOI supplements the efforts of States through its schemes like the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to help them achieve the objective of providing uninterrupted power supply to all consumers.”
All States and Union Territories (UTs) have signed MoUs with the Centre to ensure 24×7 power supply from April 1, 2019, onwards.
“Many States and UTs claim to supply 24×7 power except planned outages and interruptions due to unforeseen events. The GOI through a notification dated 31.12.2020 had notified the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, which inter-alia mandate 24X7 power supply to all consumers by the distribution licensee,” he said .
