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Punjab likely to face power shortage

Chandigarh: Punjab may face a severe power shortage in the coming summer, contrary to last year’s period, as the state is expected to experience power deficit of 300 lakh units during this period.

“Power situation in the state during summer will be one of the worst situations as the gap between demand and supply of power will exceed over 300 lakh units per day,” Punjab State Electricity Board Advisor Padamjit Singh said on Monday.

Elaborating on the shortage in the state, he said, “From the month of June, the demand for power is expected to be over 1,800 lakh units per day while the board will be able to supply just 1,500 lakh units per day from all sources at that time.”

“From June 10, PSEB has to compulsorily supply eight hours to agriculture sector for paddy sowing. As a result, the demand for power will increase considerably,” he said.

Attributing the power crisis to lack of energy generation, he said, “How can we meet the growing demand for power when we have not been able to generate additional single MW of power during last nine to ten years?”

During last winter, PSEB had to impose power cuts ranging between 6-10 hours per day in view of power shortage in state.

However during last summer season, PSEB had managed to meet the demand for power efficiently because of buying power to the tune of Rs.4,250 crore from possible resources including other states. “But this summer, power situation will be different altogether,” he said.

The problem for PSEB would also increase as far as power buying from other states is concerned as the rates of Unscheduled Interchange (UI) has increased by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) from Rs.7.45 per unit to Rs.10 per unit.- PTI

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Punjab likely to face power shortage

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