Advertisers bracing for power crisis

As a major power crisis looms over Mumbai, retail and advertising businesses are initiating steps to prepare for the dark hours. While retailers of durables may save some money as a result, outdoor advertising companies will be severely hit.

Mumbai's leading consumer durables retailer Vijay Sales has started switching off 50 per cent of the lights in its 15 outlets in Mumbai during the afternoons.

During the lean hours, the chain is also keeping all television sets, including plasma and LCDs, switched off. The company started the exercise this month and will continue it till mid-July. By then, the monsoons are expected to bring some respite.

Mumbai is being threatened by regular power cuts, thanks to a shortage of electricity. It is down from a staggering 400 Mw to 100 Mw.

"LCD and plasma televisions consume a lot of power, about two units per hour. At a 20,000 sq ft store, we have around 65-70 LCDs and plasma TVs on display. At least, six of our outlets have an area over 15,000 sq ft and the rest are 10,000-12,000 sq ft."

"By adhering to this exercise of keeping half lights and the TV sets switched off, unless the customers require a demonstration, we save upto 18,000 units of electricity every day. This would translate into a saving of 18.36 lakh units by the time we end the exercise in June. It would also translate into a per-day monetary saving of close to Rs 1 lakh rupees on our electricity bill," said an enthusiastic Vijay Sales showroom manager.

However, the outdoor advertising business will be hit. Outdoor advertising major Selvel is gearing up for a standby option of switching over to genset or battery power, in case of a possible power disruption. Selvel, which owns and operates 6,000 sites across the country, expects its profitability to be severely hit by the proposal.

Since the company charges its clients for an illuminated site, they would not pay extra for the power in an intensely competitive business. The cost of using generators works out to about three times the cost of using electricity (under the old tariffs), Selvel executives pointed out.