Multiple agencies responsible for power outages, says Bescom MD

Bangalore: Faced with frequent power cuts? Blame too many agencies managing power generation, transmission and distribution. Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) Managing Director P. Manivannan, in a late-night post on a social networking site on Monday explaining the two-day continuous power cuts that plagued parts of south Bangalore, has pointed to this being the reason.

“Bangalore is the only metro in India where power supply for the city is in the hands of three agencies in a series one after another. Electricity flows though three different companies before reaching your home. If any one of them fails, you don’t get the supply,” the post said.

Referring to power generation at the various plants such as the Raichur Thermal Power Station, transmission by the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd., and distribution by Bescom, Mr. Manivannan has said that if one of them fails, it will affect power supply.

He also pointed out to the poor condition of the receiving stations for Bangalore — Peenya (for north), Hoodi (for east), and Somanahalli (for south). “All these three are in bad shape. They are overloaded, and increase in the consumption makes them trip. Their capacity is not augmented at the pace the city grew. One reason could be that, nobody wants to take a risk of creating more capacity.”

“The point is, should there be one single agency (generation, transmission and distribution) which should be accountable for power supply to the city like Bangalore?” the post added.