Maharashtra stares at compulsory power cuts

After many years, Maharashtra is staring at compulsory power cuts as demand is higher than supply, the state discom announced on Monday, pegging the shortages at over 2,500 mw.

The "load shedding", which entails compulsory power cuts in select areas, will be carried out both in urban and rural areas, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company said in a statement.

The growing demand for power and shortages of coal have resulted in a deficit of 2,500-3,000 mw in power. To bridge the same, MSEDCL will be resorting to load shedding as per the guidelines set by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, the statement said.

It, however, did not specify any other details on the areas where the power cut will be experienced or its durations.

The state, which otherwise prides itself on being one of the most progressive ones and home to industry, was notorious for load shedding till a few years ago. A large part of the country's financial capital does not fall under MSEDCL's service area, and those pockets were excluded from load shedding in the past instances.

The MSEDCL statement said there is a record demand for over 28,000 mw of power, which is about 4,000 mw higher than last year's. MSEDCL's demand alone has touched up to 24,800 mw and the night demand is also up to 23,000 mw.

The MSEDCL has contracted 37,900 mw of power, of which 33,700 mw is installed capacity and 62 per cent of this comes from the coal-fired thermal power plants, the statement said.

However, due to a country-wide shortage of coal, there is a shortage in generation from the contracted thermal power plants, it said, pegging the shortfall from coal plants alone at 6,000 mw.

Efforts to get power from alternative sources are on at a war footing, which includes availing 673 mw from NTPC till June 25, 760 mw from CGPL, of which 410 mw is from Tuesday midnight.

The state discom's statement also claimed that neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has halved power supply to industrial consumers, while Gujarat does not provide power to industrial consumers once a week.

“We appeal to consumers to cooperate in these difficult times, and use power sparingly,” the statement appealed.

Stating that load shedding in Maharashtra is inevitable due to demand and supply mismatch amid summer, Energy Minister Nitin Raut on Monday said coal is in short supply and added that there is not much scope for generating hydropower due to less availability of water.

Raut also said that no power is available for purchase in the market and even states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are facing power cuts.

His remarks came days after the state cabinet approved the purchase of energy by the state-owned Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) for the next two months to avoid load shedding in the state.

"Many states are facing coal shortage due to reduced production in coal mines. Even if coal becomes available, rakes for its transportation are not available. The management of coal in India seems to have gone wrong," he told reporters in Aurangabad.

The minister also underlined the shortage of electricity for purchase in the open market.

"Even though we reach out to market for purchase, there is no electricity available. The expenditure on electricity has gone up as everything is open now (after lockdown). At the same time, power consumers are yet to clear the pending dues," he said and appealed to people to pay bills.

Raut said one TMC of water is required every day for generating electricity.

"Even if we get water, we may not get it beyond the need of three days. So the possibility of generating hydropower is almost over. We have to be dependent on thermal power generation projects for electricity. We have to do load shedding to some extent," he added.