For recent failures in grids, central power regulator fines state officers

Anil Sasi : New Delhi, Wed Aug 15 2012, 03:05 hrs

Two weeks after the debilitating electricity grid collapse, the central power regulator has begun to crack the whip on the grid managers of northern region states.

During the hearing on a petition filed by the Northern Region Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC), the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on Tuesday hauled up the state-level grid managers of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand for their failure to ensure proper load management and curb overdrawals.

The commission took the unprecedented action of imposing a personal fine on the officers-in-charge of the State Load Despatch Centres (SLDCs) under Section 142 of the Electricity Act, 2003. The penalty on each officer is likely to be as high as Rs 1 lakh.

The representative of the Uttar Pradesh SLDC expressed helpnessness and produced text mesages from local politicians as evidence of the pressure faced by grid managers against any attempt to shed load.

“They (local politicians) come to our control rooms and threaten us if we cut power in their areas. There is nothing that we can do but overdraw (from the grid) to maintain supplies,” the UP official was quoted as having said at the meeting. The UP representative’s views, according to officials who attended the hearing, were echoed by SLDC representatives from other northern states.

The hearing was also attended by the chairman of the Central Electricity Authority, a statutory advisory body. The CERC directed all SLDCs of northern states to implement automatic demand management schemes in a time-bound manner. The massive power blackouts across north India on the last two days of July indicated management failure at multiple levels.

Theoretically, load management centres at the utility, state and regional levels are supposed to monitor grid drawals and the frequency of transmission. If the drawal exceeds the utility or state’s allocation, or if the transmission frequency dips below the requisite 49.5 hertz mark, load managers at each level are supposed to activate circuit breakers and cut off certain outgoing feeders that provide load relief. “None of these checks and balances seems to have worked effectively,” a CERC representative said.

A report commissioned by the power ministry in the wake of the grid failures is expected to be submitted shortly. Early indications point to overdrawals by Punjab, UP and Haryana as the trigger that led to the tripping of the Bina-Agra-Gwalior transmission line, leading to cascading outages on successive days.