The Hindu Business Line : Maharashtra Govt to approach MERC with fresh plan on load shedding

Advertisement

Mumbai Feb. 7 Lakhs of industrial units in Maharashtra, which do not require uninterrupted power for their operations, are likely to shut down for one day every week because of acute power shortage in the State.

Sources said that the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd would soon approach the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) with 10 options for dealing with unprecedented power crisis in the State. A weekly single-day shutdown of industrial units is one of the options, they said.

Units located in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC)-run industrial estates will have to shut down operations for one additional day, said sources in the Government. This is because they already shut down for one day in a week for operations and maintenance purposes, as well as in observance of a weekly holiday.

"An additional `holiday' will cut into the revenues of the units in the industrial areas," said a source with MIDC.

The shutdown requirement would exclude the city of Mumbai, which does not withdraw power from the State utility, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company.

Units which require uninterrupted power — such as those in the information technology, textile and chemicals industries will not be affected by the power cuts.

Otherwise, units across the State would face staggered load shedding, said the sources.

MIDC has industrial estates in 226 locations and is the biggest industrial estate developer in the State.

Out of the total demand of 14,500 MW in the State, the demand from the industry is 5,000 MW, from urban areas it is 3,500 MW and 6,000 MW from rural areas.

Mr Dilip Walse Patil, Energy Minister, addressing the media said the State was facing load shedding of 5700 MW in the morning and 4600 MW in the evening, which is an unprecedented situation. "We are approaching the MERC with a new load shedding schedule," he said.

Explaining the power situation the State, Mr Patil said that currently rural areas have to face 12 hours of planned load shedding and at times six hours of unplanned load shedding. Currently the daily demand is 317 million units while supply amounts to 227 million units. The State was facing a shortage of 90 million units daily, he said.

Mr Patil said that the situation was likely to improve by April when 1400 MW from the Dabhol power plant and an additional 500 MW from Maharashtra Power Generation Co Ltd starts coming in.