State is heading for power crisis in winter

State is heading for power crisis in winter
Anupam Trivedi
Sat, Jul 11 04:15 PM
Needing 900 million units of electricity after the summers, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) consumers in the state are likely to face an acute power crisis during the winter season. The situation could arise from the failure of UPCL, which is responsible for electricity distribution in Uttarakhand, to save 'electricity' during the current season. UPCL seems to be in a fix about finding out 'workable solutions' for the looming crisis. Not that there aren't any power problems in the state right now. At one point of time the demand and generation ratio for electricity doubled, leading to an increase in the duration of power cuts. With the arrival of the monsoon, power production in the state increased, saving the situation from getting worse. "We are generation 2,550 million units against requirement of the same number of units," Jagmohan Lal, Chief Managing Director (CMD) of UPCL told HT on Friday. Lal said the state was not in a position to save a single unit. "UPCL had borrowed 150 million units from the New Delhi-based company BSES. We have already returned 50 million units and by the end of September we will have to return the remaining units," the CMD said. He clearly said Uttarakhand was not in position to do any sort of 'power-banking' with other states this year. Last year, things were different. The state had banked 360 million units with states like Gujarat, New Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. The savings came in handy during the winters last year when the hill state was facing an acute power crisis. "During winters, we asked for reverse banking from Punjab and BSES. We have returned the power we'd borrowed from Punjab," the CMD said. UPCL expects the demand to touch the 900 million-unit mark by the winters.
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