Bangalore : The State Government on Monday announced two hours of scheduled load-shedding in urban areas, including Bangalore and Mysore and 6 hours in rural pockets with immediate effect.

Addressing the media here yesterday, Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the move is on account of the shortfall in power generation by various companies to the tune of 1650 MW a day. In Bangalore and other major cities, there will be staggered load-shedding for 2 hours a day, while in rural areas it would be up to 6 hours, he said adding that Escoms would work out the schedule of load-shedding in various areas and announce it in two or three days.

Pointing out that the demand for power had come down following rainfall in some districts, Shivakumar said however, there was paucity in power generation which has forced Escoms to go in for load-shedding.

Maintaining that load-shedding was inevitable following shortfall in the availability of power to the State grid, the Minister said power generation has considerably reduced in the State owing to technical snags at RTPS and BTPS.

The Minister also announced that the Government was already purchasing 712 MW of power per day on a short and medium term basis at an average cost of Rs. 5.5 per unit. “There was no immediate move to buy additional power and a decision in this regard would be taken in a couple of days”, he added.

When contacted CESC officials for the area wise load shedding schedule they informed that they are yet to receive the orders from the Department of Energy in Bangalore.