Industries and essential service providers are struggling to source diesel to run generators as undeclared power cuts are on the rise, said president of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers’ Association (TECA) L. Santhosh in a press release on Monday.

Mr. Santhosh said the industries and hospitals are concerned over frequent and long hours of power interruptions and the prevailing shortage of diesel required for operating captive generators. With the war in West Asia, industrial consumers are experiencing severe challenges in procuring diesel to run generators during power interruption and power tripping periods.

The Association pointed out that the situation has created a major threat to the continuity and sustainability of industrial operations, especially under the present economic conditions. Hospitals and healthcare institutions, which require uninterrupted 24-hour electricity supply for emergency medical treatment and critical care services, are also facing serious operational difficulties because of the prevailing power interruptions.

The TECA has urged the electricity utility authorities to ensure uninterrupted power supply to industries and hospitals or, at the minimum, considerably reduce the duration of power interruptions and load shedding. It has also appealed to the authorities to temporarily suspend the monthly preventive maintenance shutdown schedules until the fuel supply situation returns to normalcy. If preventive maintenance shutdowns are unavoidable, the works may be carried out with minimum interruption time and with quick restoration of power supply with interruption limited to a specific area, it added.