No end in sight to Mumbai's power woes

War of words likely between regulator, distributor.

A war of words is likely to break out between the state-owned power utility Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) over the MERC's order on Monday rejecting MSEDCL's plea for increasing load shedding.

The MERC's order is a virtual indictment of MSEDCL's functioning which has angered MSEDCL. A director-operations of MSEDCL Anil Palamwar had shot-off a sarcastic letter to the commission asking it to clarify certain issues on Tuesday.

Pointing out that MSEDCL's application for buying 590 Mw of costly power to meet the increased demand has been pending with the power regulator since February 14. The MSEDCL has sought to know, if they can go ahead with purchasing costly power and if yes, to what extent and at what price.

This is reference to the commission's observation that MSEDCL was aware of the increase in the demand during the summer months, so it should have planned accordingly, instead of asking for more power cuts.

Referring to the commission's observations that providing 24x7 power is the responsibility of the power utility, Palamwar has sought to know, can the MSEDCL contract costly power to meet the entire deficit of 4,500 Mw to 5,500 Mw. And can MSEDCL recover its costs from customers.

Pointing out the loopholes in the power regulator's contention that the Tata Power Company (TPC) is hardly overdrawing power from the state grid to supply Mumbai, while TPC is helping MSEDCL supply its power in the state grid during the evening hour after Mumbai's peak hour gets over.

Palmwar has pointed out that TPC overdraws power during the day from the state grid even if they pump power into state grid in the evening.

This creates additional shortage during the day in the system. So considering this, whether MSEDCL should not allow the overdrawal of power to TPC during the day or resort to emergency power cuts, elsewhere in the state.

Referring to the commission's observation that the power utility is favouring industrial consumers over others and is hesitating to introduce a second day of load shedding in industrial parks, Palmwar has sought to know, according commission's order dated February 20th many continuous and non-continuous process industries have reeducated their consumption by 10 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.