Furnace units in Punjab to face 12-hour power cut daily
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, January 18
After the purchase of power from private producers in other states, a 12-hour power cut has been imposed upon furnace units across Punjab. Though the Powercom officials said the step was initiated to maintain a balance between industrial and domestic power supply, industrialists term it as biased.

Industrialists purchase low-cost power from private players (between Rs 1 to Rs 4 per unit), during the lean hours at night and get power from Powercom at a cost of Rs 5.28, during peak hours at daytime.

Since Powercom could not bear the burden of providing extra power to industries, during daytime, it has imposed power cuts on furnace industry. The industrialists said they were told to purchase power from private players even during the day.

President of the Punjab Furnace Association, Mahinder Gupta, said industrialists purchasing private power were facing a power cut of 12 hours from 8 am to 8 pm. “This has led to financial losses as the production has reduced up to 60 per cent. The industry is getting electricity for only 10 hours out of 24 hours and the cuts have also increased the input costs,” he said.

He said since Powercom was unable to meet the demands of industry it had directed industrialists to purchase power from private players. “We are being told not to burden the exhausted power scenario of state,” he said. Sixty furnace units out of 100 in Punjab are purchasing electricity from private producers and are facing the cut.

Industrialists said they got power through open access between 9 am to 12 noon and it was being distributed among industrialists till 3 pm after the bidding.

“Private electricity is an economical option as it cost Rs 1 to Rs 2 cheaper than that of Powercom,” said industrialist Naresh Kumar. However, due to 12 hours of power cuts, price of private power has escalated. Chief Engineer of Powercom, NS Matharu said industrialists, for their benefit, purchased private electricity during night hours when even Powercom had excess power and demanded electricity only during day time due to which power cuts are imposed. “We have advised industrialists that if they wish to purchase power from private producers then they must not discontinue it, even if its prices increase.

We are not against industrialists purchasing power from private producers but they should not make a quick switchover which disturbs power production and distribution in Punjab,” he said.

The electricity of Powercom costs Rs 4.58 per unit and its transmission cost to every industry is Rs 5.28, after adding state excise duty and octroi. However, private players sell electricity through their brokers sitting in metropolitan cities across the country using the infrastructure of Powercom.