UP looks to other states to meet power demand

Signs power purchase agreement with the Himachal govt.

With mercury already touching 35 degrees Celsius in Uttar Pradesh, the state government is in the process of initiating talks with other states and power companies to meet the heightened demand during summer.

The peak hour demand in summer is likely to touch 11,000 Megawatt (Mw) a day in the state while the total availability is expected to be around 6,700 Mw, including import from the central sector to the tune of 3,700 Mw.

UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) is hard pressed to provide the shortfall of over 4,000 Mw. The Corporation has entered into an agreement with the Himachal Pradesh government for purchasing 250Mw and 400 Mw in the two respective fortnights of April 2009 at the rate of Rs 7.5 per unit. This alone would cost the cash-starved UPPCL over Rs 75 crore.

“We will be talking to other power-abundant states like Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal for purchasing additional power for the summers,” corporation additional managing director Narendra Bhushan told Business Standard.

He admitted that the situation “is tough” and the corporation was also mulling saving measures to cut online and distribution losses. The generation capacity of all the 26-odd hydro and thermal power units in UP is 3,000 Mw.

Already, the power-starved UPPCL is resorting to scheduled and unscheduled power cuts and rostering for long durations.

Besides, with the demand for power going up in other states as well during summer, the open market rate of power will jump to Rs 10 per unit in the months ahead.

In a recent meeting of the Northern Region Power Committee (NRPC) at Jhansi, top agendas included that power demand in UP would be over 10,000 Mw this summer and the maximum availability would be 7,000 Mw, said All India Power Engineers Federation general secretary Shailendra Dubey.

Meanwhile, the scheduled closure of the 500 Mw Rihand Super Thermal Power project of the National Thermal Power Corporation from April 1 to 30 has been deferred till the Lok Sabha elections get over.