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| Even as the state recorded an increase in the number of electricity users in the first half of the current fiscal year, the cumulative power available in the state during the first half of the year has fallen by 2.7 per cent.
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| This has created a situation where the state-run Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) has had to effect a power cut to the industries across the state.
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| As against the availability of 25,994 million kilowatt per hour (MKwH) cumulative electricity between April 2002 and September 2002, the amount of electricity available in the first half of the current fiscal year, April 2003 to September 2003, was 25,285 MKwH.
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| In sharp contrast, during the first half of 2003-04, nearly two lakh new electricity consumers were provided with power connections.
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| According to the monthly review of the Gujarat Economy report by the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), the aggregate availability of power in the state in September 2003 fell by six per cent as compared to the availability in September 2002.
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| The aggregate availability of electricity in September 2002 was 4,490 MKwH, which dipped to 4,245 MKwH in September this year.
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| There has also been a two per cent dip in the demand that the state government has been able to meet in the first half of the current year as compared to the previous year.
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| The maximum unrestricted demand between April 2002 and September 2002 was 8,874 MW, while the state government could meet just 81.6 per cent of this demand.
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| This year, the maximum unrestricted demand for the first half of the year was 9,022 MW, but the state could meet just 79 per cent of this demand, the CMIE report said.
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| The GEB plants were operating at a plant load factor of 54.4 per cent as on September 2003 as compared to a plant load factor of 66.3 per cent in September 2002.
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Irked by the power cut to industries that has now been extended by another fortnight, industries
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