Bangalore: Sitting on a comfortable power situation, Karnataka will have no power cut this year, according to State-owned Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL), which said it has cut expenditure by a whopping around Rs 800 crore during 2003-04 through certain initiatives.

KPTCL Chairman and Managing Director K N Shrivastava told reporters in Bangalore that the Hydel storage is so much that 20 million units could be generated per day till end of June. He categorically said there would be no power cut this year and power would be available to fully meet the requirements of consumers.

Detailing KPTCL's performance during 2003-04, which he termed as "really very good", he said 16 hours per day power supply to rural areas and 24 hours to urban areas would continue.

Shrivastava said the Company could cut expenditure by around Rs 800 crore through various initiatives like reducing transmission losses, frequency correction, adding of capacitors, efficient grid management, higher generation of cheaper power, drawal of more power from central generating units and generation of cheaper power.

While Raichur Thermal Power Plant's load factor was as high as 90.23 per cent, KPTCL could draw additional 496 million units from central generating units as well as an additional 80 MW from eastern region.

Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) had mandated KPTCL to supply 29,946 million units during the year but the State-owned company has actually 1,235 million units more than that figure.

While the total cost of supply pegged by KERC was Rs 5,883 crore, KPTCL was able to achieve a figure of Rs 5,899 crore, which is only Rs 16 crore more than the mandate, he said.

Shrivastava said Hydel generation was assumed to be 10,084 million units by KERC, but actual figure from such sources registered a short-fall of 2,847 million units because of drought.

According to him, KPTCL used to buy Hydel power from the State-owned Visweshwaraiah Vidyuth Nigama at 74 paise per unit but in the last fiscal it had to buy from outside the State at Rs 2.51 per unit, incurring an additional expenditure of Rs 1.77 per unit.

For buying 2,847 million units of Hydel power from outside the State, KPTCL had to incur an additional expenditure of Rs 504 crore. For supply of 1,235 million units more than mandated by KERC, at Rs 2.51 per unit, KPTCL incurred an expenditure of Rs 310 crore.