Use power wisely, pay bills timely to ensure supply

Maintain power infrastructure

Frequent and prolonged power cuts become a major nuisance for the public during the sweltering summer periods. It becomes imperative for the authorities to effectively manage the balance between power demand and supply to prevent unscheduled power interruptions. On the supply side, upgrading infrastructure, including substations, transformers and distribution lines, is necessary to reduce transmission losses and prevent breakdowns. Regular maintenance of power infrastructure is also essential to address voltage fluctuations and minimise downtime. Encouragement of renewable energy sources, particularly rooftop solar installations for residential and commercial buildings, is recommended. But, more importantly, on the demand side, self-imposed public restrictions on power usage, like those recently implemented during the Indo-Pak conflict, can certainly help mitigate the likelihood of power cuts and blackouts. By reducing power consumption during peak hours, overall demand on the grid can be lowered, potentially leading to more efficient usage of energy resources and reduced strain on power plants and transmission infrastructure. Strategies to shift non-essential power usage to off-peak hours, such as late evening or early morning, can contribute to this goal. The use of energy-efficient appliances and adjustments to thermostat settings may further help reduce energy consumption during peak hours. Load management strategies, such as staggering appliance usage, can further assist in reducing peak demand. However, the successful execution of such self-imposed initiatives requires dedicated, sincere, and effective leadership, which can inspire public participation by becoming their role models. To support these efforts, discontinuing free power supply across all sectors/sections henceforth and albeit being supplied uninterruptedly on reasonable charges, may be considered.

(Dr) Kulwant Singh Phull

Voluntary conservation can help

The availability of electricity has become an essential factor for development and everyday convenience. As people increasingly rely on electrical appliances and technologies, the demand for power continues to rise steadily. However, electricity generation remains limited, leading to supply challenges. During the peak summer months, power is often rationed to prioritise critical agricultural and industrial needs. This often leads to long outages for households and offices so that electricity is diverted to support vital production processes, particularly sowing and harvesting of crops. Interestingly, during the recent Indo-Pak conflict, significant power cuts were implemented to protect infrastructure from missile or drone attacks. These blackouts led to a noticeable decrease in electricity usage, as many appliances and devices were automatically shut off. This unintentional conservation offers valuable insights that temporary power savings can be achieved through reduced consumption during emergencies. The experience underscores the potential of adopting voluntary, self-imposed restrictions to ease the pressure on our power systems. Simple actions, such as turning off lights earlier or using electrical appliances sparingly during peak hours, can lead to meaningful reductions in energy use. To be more specific, electricity has become an indispensable part of our life and until power generation capacity is enhanced, mindful habits can help bridge the gap between demand and supply. As the consumption is expected to surge further during hot weather conditions, especially for domestic cooling and intensity of agricultural operations related to upcoming paddy sowing season, we have to be more cautious to conserve power. Given the state’s existing power deficit, maintaining an uninterrupted supply would be a serious challenge. Despite budgetary constraints, the state power board may have to procure additional electricity from the national grid or from other power surplus states to manage the crisis. Alongside, the authorities may need to impose staggered power cuts on domestic users to ensure that industrial and agricultural activity is not disrupted. Thus on broader terms, exploring renewable and non-conventional energy sources is vital for long-term sustainability, but voluntary conservation efforts can also help manage the current shortfall. Nonetheless, the lasting solution lies in significantly expanding power generation to meet the growing energy needs.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Switch off lights when not in use

Peak hours see the highest electricity demand, often pushing power grids to their limits and results in power failure. Actually we are not in the habit of doing anything voluntarily until imposed on us. Go anybody’s house and we will notice all the lights and fans are on whether somebody is sitting or not, sheer wastage of power. By doing a very small change can be very impactful. All the family members should sit in one room and switch off all other lights in the peak hours. Switch off all the outside lights plus streetlights, this small action can lead to significant changes, not only power saving but reduces the electricity bill also. It’s a low cost, highly impactful solution that supports personal saving and socially benefits.

Shashi Kiran

Minimise use of lights during night

During the recent “Operation Sindoor” blackout was announced in a number of villages and cities near the international border with Pakistan. With the sound of the siren/hooter the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited switched off the electricity of the whole area. As it became a routine for three to four days that blackout was imposed in number of areas for the safety and security of the residents from the attacks of drones which were visible by shoots out by our S-400. The destruction of the drones was visible with the naked eyes in the sky and even the shoot out of drones was shown live by the news channels at different places. As with the panic among the residents of the war and specially those residents who had seen during the 1965, 1971 India-Pakistan war were really on a panic mode. The residents themselves took the initiative of switching off their lights and the load of power was minimised with this exercise. As in the peak load hours of scorching heat and planting and providing water to the paddy needs power supply round the clock and at that situation we all should come forward to save electricity as we can by keeping the number of lights switched off to save every unit of electricity. It will be a goodwill gesture by the residents by saving electricity by using minimum lights during the night and if the commercial buildings like malls, restaurants, hotels etc change their closing time to sharp 10 PM during the peak load time in the summers, this will certainly keep the electricity voltage in order and not fluctuate which is a threat to the electric components. In the past the air conditioners were in a limited number in the houses of the masses but now almost air conditioners have been installed in all the rooms of the houses exceeding the demand to high peak in the scorching heat wave. The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited should come with an open policy that who have installed new air conditioners at business premises/houses they should exceed their load in the record so that the PSPCL can frame a policy to install new electricity transformers at different areas as per the record demand of power and load capacity can be hiked and keep the power supply intact and 220/240 voltage round the clock.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Power saved is power produced

The world is run by energy and hydropower is still the basic source of energy. In spite of inventing and practising many alternative sources of energy, electricity is expected to stay inevitable in people’s lives. The demand for power is ever increasing but during the summer peak season, the sudden and unexpected pressure on demand tends to reach a level where maintaining a balance between demand and supply becomes a daunting task and the distribution becomes erratic causing inconvenience to the consumers. To avoid such a scenario, though it requires government intervention at the highest level, yet the public can play an important role through resorting to judicious use of electricity at all levels. Adhering to the golden slogan, ‘Power saved is power produced’ the consumers can play a significant role in averting the crisis of power shortage. The people should buy only those graded electrical appliances which consume less power with optimum results. The prevailing government guidelines regarding saving power while using air conditioners and refrigerators must be followed up meticulously. The appliances including fans, lights, TVs, micro ovens, electronic gadgets should be kept off when not in actual use. The use of decorative lights both inside and outside of the houses should be avoided during the peak season. Strict austerity measures regarding use of electricity in offices and the institutions need to be implemented by the government.

Jagdish Chander

Implement early bedtime routine to save power

The recent heated times between the two nations, India and Pakistan, have resulted in Punjab having early power cuts and complete blackouts. This has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the energy and electricity levels are at an all-time high and more volts of electricity is now conserved. During the daytime, demand was approximately 8,500 MW, but within a few hours, it fell to about 1,147 MW. These numbers were so fascinating that now it’s a key topic of discussion that whether to actually implement early bedtimes and lights out throughout the city by the public. This might not be a bad idea because it will not only save so much energy and manpower on the energy grid, but also, all this conserved energy can be provided to people in need and below the poverty line in order to streamline their lives. Additionally, people will eventually sleep earlier and wake up earlier due to natural circumstances, which can lead to fewer health issues and a fixed sleep cycle. The recent dreadful circumstances have taught us a valuable lesson on how to save more than 75% of energy consumption for a consistent period of time. Now it’s the people’s responsibility to take inspiration from this and incorporate early bedtimes for everyone as a collective community. Furthermore, any entertainment appliances should be used only in one room after a set time, where everyone can watch something together. This will result in lesser energy consumption as compared to multiple appliances at one time, plus the entire household can have a close bonding time. All unnecessary lights should be shut down to save energy. Energy consumption is key for human survival and success, as in the long run, all the saved electricity can be used for the betterment of the city.

Lakshit Jindal

Adopt daily power saving culture

In today’s high-tech era, electronic gadgets have become an essential part of life, so is the electricity without which neither these gadgets are possible nor our comforts. So electricity is the global lifeline. Profoundly thinking about the vitality of this precious treasure, let’s save it as we did during the blackouts last week. Let the seriousness we observed be continued now also in the matter of switching off the lights, fans, ACs, etc. A few small efforts will certainly ease the power transmission system and reduce our electricity bills also. With mercury soaring in the summer season, chilled rooms are everyone’s destination. So let us develop the habit of using single AC by sitting, eating, and gossiping together at one place. Let there be a culture of watching TV together instead of sitting in individual rooms. Encourage small children to play outside in the evening instead of being with mobiles and TV. As it has become a fashion to have multiple and fancy lights to give our house a glamorous look, let the lighting be minimum and simple. Shopkeepers should refrain from giving festive look to the markets which should only be during the festival days. Street lights should be switched off in time. By setting a few such simple norms, we can contribute a lot in improving and easing our power system.

Anjali Kumar

Jalandhar