Blaming "overdrawal" of power by certain states for the current crisis, power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said the government was working to restore elecricity supply at the earliest.
"We are trying our level best to restore supply in one hour or so," Shinde told reporters
here as the country faced one of its worst power crisis for the second straight day.
It is perhaps the first time three grids have collapsed simultaneously. Northern Grid failed for the second consecutive day, while the Eastern and North Eastern Grids also collapsed in the morning, leaving more than half of the country powerless.
Power secretary P Uma Shankar told PTI that all essential loads had been brought back, while some restored. "We are working on that. In an hour, it (situation) would be restored," he said.
Asked about the reasons for the failure of grids, Shinde said some states were drawing electricity over and above their limits. "This was creating problems," he added.
"This morning only, I was told (by officials) that about 3,000 MW extra power has been over drawn from the Eastern Grid. We have given the direction to either stop it (overdrawal) or take action against them," the minister said.