Nine hour power cuts in Punjab makes life hell for people
August 04, 2012 10:20 PM
By Vinod K Gupta
CHANDIGARH: 9 hour power cuts are being imposed in Punjab as the state is facing a power shortage of 400 lac units daily. The power demand in state is more than 2200 lac units and all the arrangements made by Punjab State power Corporation Ltd. are proving insufficient as power supply is around 1800 lac units. The increase in power demand is being attributed to deficient rainfall and free supply to farmers.

As per official records minimum power cuts in all district headquarters and other cities are about 9 hours daily and in important cities the cuts duration is between 6 to 7 hours. The agriculture supply in state has been restricted to 6 hours daily against commitment of 8 hours supply.

PSPCL is making short term purchase of about 466 lac units to bridge the gap between demand and supply. Punjab’s thermal generation is 496 lac units and hydro generation is 182 lac units. Punjab is getting 148 lac units from BBMB as its share.

As per official records minimum power cuts in all district headquarters and other cities are about 9 hours daily and in important cities the cuts duration is between 6 to 7 hours. The agriculture supply in state has been restricted to 6 hours daily against commitment of 8 hours supply.

The maximum power demand is during evening hours when it exceeds 10200 MW and peak time shortage is 2500 MW.

M R Parihar Chief Engineer Lehra Mohabatt thermal plant informed that unit 4 of plant has created a new record of continuous running of 122 days. The unit tripped at the time of grid failure. Earlier record of unit was of 114 days.

In the adjoining Haryana power position is equally bad as there is power shortage of 240 lac units. The power demand in state is more than 1520 lac units. Three thermal units of 1200 MW capacity are under forced outage and another 600 MW unit is running at half load due to technical problem. One 660 MW unit is facing coal problem. The power cuts are in range of 8 to 9 hours daily.