Hyderabad: Faced with an acute shortage of power, Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday appealed to the consumers to take measures for saving power.
In an open letter to the 2.5 crore electricity consumers in the state, the Energy Coordination Cell, Energy Department of Andhra Pradesh government has urged them to inculcate the habit of energy conservation by treating it as a social responsibility.
"As a short term measure, power utilities have finalised orders and entered agreements for procurement of power around 1300 MW per month till May 2013. As a medium term measure, the AP Power utilities are in the process of purchasing around 1000 MW power from June, 2013 to June, 2016 by forecasting the future requirements of the electricity consumers," the letter said.
"In spite of taking all measures, though it is painful, power cuts have become inevitable in view of the ever-increasing demand and to protect the grid from collapsing...," it said.
The letter said that the government is contemplating cash rewards for those consumers, who do well in conservation efforts.
An action plan on conservation of energy will be finalised shortly and a high-level review meeting would take place on the issue on Thursday.
The letter also gave several tips to the consumers for saving energy.
They include avoiding usage of air conditioners indiscriminately and using solar heaters over electric geysers in government guest houses.
Meanwhile, YSR Congress Party of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy called for protests on August 28, 29 and 30 in all the mandals and a state-wide bandh on August 31 against the power crisis in the state.
Main opposition TDP, TRS, BJP and the left parties have been organising protests over the power shortage issue in Hyderabad and across Andhra Pradesh over the last several days.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, August 26, 2012, 23:52