Discoms urge residents to not turn off electrical gadgets, main power supply on April 5

Officials of the Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited (UPPTCL) have urged all the high-rise societies in Ghaziabad and neighbouring cities such as

Officials of the Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited (UPPTCL) have urged all the high-rise societies in Ghaziabad and neighbouring cities such as Noida and Greater Noida not to turn off the main power supply to the buildings on April 5. In a video address on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had exhorted everyone to turn off the lights in their homes and light candels, diyas, flashlights, etc for nine minutes at 9pm on Sunday, April 5.

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Power discoms and transmission companies in the state have appealed to all electricity consumers to not switch off their electrical gadgets like air conditioners, refrigerators, among other appliances and also not to shut down the main supply connection of buildings On Sunday.

“The main supply connection and other appliances should not be turned off to maintain a certain load level in the power grid. The residents should also not turn off electrical gadgets, lifts in their buildings, etc. We have all arrangements in place to ensure the grid’s stability. On average these days, around 9pm , there is a power load of about 13,000 megawatts (MW) across the state. On Sunday, the reduction in demand is estimated to be about 2,500-3,000 MW,” Shekhar Agrawal, chief engineer, transmission (Meerut zone), UPPTCL.

The ministry of power on Saturday clarified the PM appealed on switch off the lights for nine minutes on April 5.

“There is no call to switch off either street lights or appliances like computers, televisions, fans, refrigerators and ACs in the homes. Only lights should be switched off. The lights in hospitals and all other essential services like public utilities, municipal services, offices, police stations, manufacturing facilities, etc will remain switched on. The call given by the PM is to just switch off lights in residences,” the ministry said in a statement.

The top officials of the electricity department will be monitoring the power supply and the reduction in the power demand from the control centre at Lucknow, while field-level officials have also been deputed at various sub-stations in their respective regions.

“ Power generation needs to be monitored on Sunday and the work at the back end level will start from 8pm onwards and will go on till 10pm to return to the same power load again. From 8pm we will reduce power generation and some rural areas may also face outages for a brief period. The power reduction will be in place till about 9pm. After the nine-minute event is over, the power generation will again be increased gradually and will achieve the usual level by 10pm,” Agrawal added.

According to officials, the entire exercise will be taken up for about two hours in order to maintain the stability in the power grid to avoid any instance of voltage fluctuation.

“In areas such as Ghaziabad we have about 8.5 lakh electricity consumers and about 50,000 of these are commercial and industrial consumers. The power demand has laready gone down by almost 30% due to the national lockdown. The entire two-hour exercise at the back end level on Sunday has been planned to avoid any possibility of voltage fluctuation and to maintain the grid’s stability,” RK Rana, chief engineer (distribution), Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited, said.

All local civic bodies have also been advised to keep the street lights on Sunday at 9pm for public safety.