The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB)’s decision to restrict power supply in the city has led to an 18-20 per cent rise in diesel sales.
Industry attributes this surge mainly to the demand from IT companies, banks and corporates, which consume diesel for generator use.
Meanwhile, the oil marketing companies have instructed the petrol bunk owners to supply diesel only to vehicles.
Faced with a power shortage of 1,000 Mw, the government has announced a compulsory power cut across the state. The duration ranges between two hours in the city and four hours outside the city. TNEB has also enforced a compulsory power holiday every Monday for IT companies.
This has resulted in high consumption of diesel by IT companies. For instance, petrol bunk owners on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) or IT corridor said their sales had increased 20 per cent since power cut was enforced. IT companies are buying 10-15 barrels (each barrel has a capacity of about 200 litres of diesel) every day.
R Balan, who owns a petrol bunk in the IT corridor, said sale at his bunk had increased 25 per cent. Till June, the average sale was around 20,000 litres a day, which increased to 25,000-26,000 litres starting July. His bunk now sells 2,000-5,000 litres in a single sale.
The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) met Tamil Nadu chief secretary and IT secretary last Friday to address the diesel shortage issue. It is estimated that the IT industry needs a litre of diesel per person every hour. In Chennai, there are over 200,000 IT professionals.
R Saravanan, who heads administration in one of the US-based companies, said his company’s 2,000-seating facility on OMR was using a 2,000 KV generator, which consumes 800 litres of diesel every hour. The company spends around Rs 50,000 a day on diesel for this facility alone.
The second major consumers are banks, especially foreign banks. A foreign bank representative said its credit division alone needed 150 litres of diesel every hour to back up the server.
A Chennai-based public sector bank also said it was buying around 500 litres of diesel every day to back up its operations at its headquarters here. Similarly, hotels and shopping malls are also procuring 50-100 litre of diesel every hour.
According to a senior official of an oil company, the demand has increased 30-40 per cent since power cut was introduced. At the current rate, it won't be possible to increase the supply to petrol bunks, he added.
