The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Power shortage likely to go up during January-May: Veeraswamy

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Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Power shortage likely to go up during January-May: Veeraswamy

Special Correspondent

“We are taking steps to ensure there is no power cut in summer”

CHENNAI: Power shortage, which is now 700 megawatt (MW) in the State, is expected to go up to 1,000 MW-1,500 MW during January-May, Arcot N. Veeraswamy, Electricity Minister, said here on Monday.

Addressing a press conference after holding a meeting with industrialists at the Secretariat, he said: “We are taking steps to ensure there is no power cut in the summer. Due to unforeseen circumstances, a situation may arise wherein we may have to resort to load shedding for half hour.”

Acknowledging that load shedding was now in force, the Minister said loss of wind energy of 1,500 MW and 1,000 MW from the Neyveli power stations and the Central pool had led to power shortage.

Due to steps taken by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government, the annual demand had gone up to 600 MW-700 MW from the earlier 400 MW, he said.

To face the problem in the coming months, industrial units, which wanted to use furnace oil-run generator equipment for energy requirements, would be exempted from the Value-Added Tax for the fuel from January to May.

Industrial units had been requested to reschedule their holiday, instead of Sunday. Some units had responded favourably to the suggestion and local officials of the Electricity Board would be advised to ensure that such units had stable power supply on Sunday.

Units wanting to maximise their operations during night, would be provided smooth supply.

The State Government was taking steps to get 300 MW from Assam and Haryana. It had also approached the Centre to provide 500 MW from the unallocated pool.

Asked whether power shortage would drive away potential investors to other States, Mr. Veeraswamy replied in the negative and said Tamil Nadu was chosen for a combination of factors such as better level of infrastructure and peaceful industrial relations.

Regarding power sector reforms, he said the State was not against the reforms per se.

The primary reason for other States to go in for restructuring their Electricity Boards was low revenue collection and higher line loss. But, in the case of Tamil Nadu, revenue collection was 99 per cent and line loss 18 per cent, among the lowest in the country.

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