"There would be no power cuts in the state during the ongoing winter season when the demand of power increases enormously," said Dhumal.
Reviewing the power availability during the winters at a high level meeting, he said that the state usually faces power deficit during winter months when the discharge of water level in the river recedes drastically due to freezing of snow, causing sharp fall in hydro-power generation.
However, the state was expecting good rain and snowfall during ensuing winter season which would ensure more surplus power during summer months, the chief minister said.
"The state government had made arrangements with the neighbouring states for supplying them power during summer and buy back equal quantity of power during the winters," Dhumal said.
He said, the state government through HP State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) had supplied 244 million units (MUs) power to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh during the months of April to October, 2012 and the same was being transmitted back to Himachal by respective states to meet the increased demand during the months from November, 2012 to March, 2013.
The HPSEBL had been authorised to tie up with the neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and Delhi for procurement of 455 MUs of power under forward banking arrangement with a view to ensure surplus power during winter months and in anticipation of increasing demand, he said.
Dhumal said that although the state had sufficient power to meet its domestic demand but as a precautionary arrangement additional power supply was also being ensured so that there were no power cuts and demand based supply of the same was ensured for domestic and commercial activities.
He said that presently the state had power availability of 252 lakh units as against the demand of 242 lakh units, leaving a surplus of 10 lakh units which was sufficient to meet the anticipated demand in the state during coming months. MORE
