The Hindu Business Line : Mumbai gets reprieve from power cuts

Mumbai April 9 Mumbai city has got a brief reprieve from load shedding. Tata Power Ltd, the main utility company supplying power to Mumbai, has managed to source about 350 MW of power and fill up the current shortfall.

"The power situation in Mumbai is still touch and go. We have managed to source power but the supply can fluctuate from day to day.

The city would not face shortfall in April but for May and June it is difficult to predict, " said Mr Prasad Menon, Managing Director of Tata Power Company Ltd.

Mr Menon was talking to the media on Monday after a meeting with Maharashtra's Energy Minister, Mr Dilip Walse Patil.

Currently, Mumbai's peak requirement is about 2,600 MW but the supply is about 2,200 MW.

The utility companies meet the shortfall by drawing power from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL).

MSEDCL, the main utility company for Maharashtra, itself has a shortfall of over 4,500 MW and is increasingly finding it difficult to supply power to other utility companies.

Mr Menon said that over the weekend, Tata Power's overdraw from the MSEDCL has almost come to zero.

The power that is being soured is `infirm power', wheeled in from far-off States such as Arunanchal Pradesh and Kerala.

The power crunch in Mumbai is likely to remain for three years until new power capacities are added, he said.

The price of power that is being bought from distant locations may work out to be double the current cost.

Mr Lalit Jalan, Executive Director of Reliance Energy Ltd, said that power is being sourced from more than 12 locations across the country and it is costing in the range of Rs 7.50 per unit.

The additional money being spent for buying expensive power would be reflected in the annual revenue requirement of the company, Mr Jalan said.

"Reliance Energy, Tata Power and BEST Undertaking are working in tandem so that outside companies selling power in times of crisis do not create competition among us," Mr Jalan said.