Industry slams power cuts in Karnataka

Bangalore Electricity Supply Company's decision for a scheduled six-hour power cut a day will cause severe hardship to businesses already struggling due to sluggish economy, industry in Karnataka said on Friday. Bescom has already issued notices to its industrial consumers in Bangalore city and all towns of the eight districts under its jurisdiction, detailing supply hours and scheduled cuts.

Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce president M Lakshminarayan said this would cause severe hardship to the industries already struggling due to sluggish economy among others. “These curtailments shall not only affect the output from process industries but also erode tight margins due to usage of captive generation with diesel or heavy furnace oil, which is two to three times more expensive than grid power,” he said.