Mumbai to escape power cuts, says MERC

After much wrangling over whether or not Mumbai will face power cuts, it seems the city may escape the crisis this summer after all.

Power utilities have promised the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to tie up for extra power supply till the beginning of June, needed to overcome the spurt in demand.

It may be recalled that the state government had earlier refused to allow Tata Power Company (TPC) and Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) to overdraw power from the state grid to meet the shortfall of around 400 Mw for Mumbai.

The power regulator had asked both companies to submit their contingency plans to mitigate the power situation in the city by today, in case they fail to meet the demand.

It has been reliably learnt that TPC has assured the power regulator about tying up for 520 Mw till June, sufficient to overcome the current shortfall of around 400 Mw.

TPC is the bulk power supplier for BEST and REL, who are power distributors in the island city and suburbs, respectively. TPC and REL supply 1,770 Mw and 500 Mw to the city, respectively.

Meanwhile, during a hearing on the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd's (MSEDCL) petition to increase loadshedding hours in industrial parks (from one to two days) and in urban areas (except Mumbai) by one hour, MERC Chairman Pramod Deo came down heavily on MSEDCL and Western Region Load Dispatch Centre for not providing accurate and enough data to make the fresh plea. "Because of inadequate data, it has become impossible to manage the present crisis," he observed.

He sought to know, what dramatic changes have taken place since MERC?s last order on February 28, for fresh demand for loadshedding.