Noida got almost 24x7 power supply in October

NOIDA: The Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) supplied power for at least 23 hours 50 minutes a day on an average in the Gautam Budh Nagar district

NOIDA: The Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) supplied power for at least 23 hours 50 minutes a day on an average in the Gautam Budh Nagar district last month, leaving hardly any scope for the use of diesel-fuelled generator (DG) sets that cause air pollution, officials said on Wednesday.

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PVVNL chief engineer Virendra Nath Singh said that there is no dearth of power in the district, and supply and transmission of power has no interruption. “The average daily power supply by PVVNL in Noida and some parts of Greater Noida was recorded at more than 23 hours and 50 minutes on an average in October. And this, despite the fact that last month had lots of festivals, including Durga Puja and Diwali, when the power demand was at its peak,” he said.

Singh further said that with such an uninterrupted power supply, the scope of running DG sets in high-rises and residential societies has been limited. “Though the PVVNL has no say in banning them, but it is obvious that in a continuous power supply, nobody wants to run DG sets as it causes air pollution,” he said.

According to the officials, some of the areas in Noida did not face power cut more than 15 minutes in October. “While the total duration of power cut was less than 12 minutes in sectors 21, 25 and 27, it was less than 15 minutes in sectors 61 and 66. It was due to PVVNL’s round the clock exercise of overhauling the entire transmission system, including supply lines and transformers,” the PVVNL chief engineer said.

Noida residents said they are happy with the current power supply in the city. Manohar Singh of Sector 61 said that power cut is no more an issue with his locality. “There is hardly any disruption in power supply in our locality. Whenever there is a power cut, it comes back in minutes,” he said.

Echoing similar views, BN Bhattacharya of Sector 25 said that his power invertor has no load for the past three months. “The battery of my invertor is three-year-old now. We wanted to change it. But with the present condition of power supply, there is no need to change it this winter,” he said.

The PVVNL official said that in October 500 cases of power theft were lodged against unscrupulous consumers at its anti power theft police station in Sector 63. “During the ongoing recovery drive, power supply to 2,122 consumers, who have not cleared their dues, was disconnected in October. We also recovered around ₹12.35 crore from 2,835 consumers in the same month,” Singh said.

About the target of ongoing disconnection drive, which began on November 1 and will continue till November 15, the chief engineer said that it would take place in 235 gram panchayats, including urban villages of the district. “In these areas, we have identified 1,015 big defaulters. We have also set a target to recover the outstanding electricity dues of around ₹1.08 crore from them,” he said.

The officials also said that the line loss in the district has come down to less than 15%. “The overall line loss in Noida has come down to a little over 10%, which was 16.8% before the checking of meters of consumers with heavy loads,” Singh said.