No additional power for Mumbai this summer

The state government today gave clear indications to the city power suppliers that no additional power from the grid would be available this summer .

Energy Minister Dilip Walse-Patil has asked senior officials of Tata Power, Reliance Energy, BEST and Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Company (Mahadiscom) to cut down the consumption by 20 per cent to cope with the crisis.

"There is no proposal for power cut in Mumbai. Today's meeting was to make a joint strategy for power conservation taking in view the power shortage in the state and rise in the demand during summers," said the representatives of the power companies.

Mumbai generally faces no power cut and in additional demand situation power power meant for other parts of the state is diverted to Mumbai.

According to a senior official from power ministry, Tata and Reliance which supply power to Mumbai somehow manage to meet the demand which is around 2200 mw. The demand is likely to go up to 2500 mw this summer.

This means Reliance, Tata and BEST need to prepare a plan to cut down consumption or announce power cuts, an official said.

"Once the plan is finalised the companies need to get Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission's (MERC) permission for its implementation," said Walse-Patil.