Power craving remains high, cuts may continue

Delhiites have been braving sleepless nights and stifling days thanks to power cuts lasting several hours.

Delhiites have been braving sleepless nights and stifling days thanks to power cuts lasting several hours. On Monday night many areas such as Dwarka, Safdarjung enclave, Sarita Vihar, Malviya Nagar, Gole Market, Mayur Vihar, Greater Kailash, Rajouri Garden and Rohini among others faced power cuts lasting six hours and more.

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The situation may become worse because the power discoms have made arrangements to meet a maximum demand of 5,500 MW and the peak demand has already touched 5,454 MW on Monday. It might rise further, as the heat wave conditions continue in the face of an elusive monsoon.

Out of this 5,500 MW, 5,200 MW includes Delhi's own generation capacity and the permanent arrangements the Capital has with other states. The rest 300 MW could be managed, if and when the need arises.

"We have asked the distribution companies to make a three-month pact for purchasing power or to buy it from the market. They had made arrangements for only 5,500 MW. They need to be prepared for more than that," said a power department official.

On Monday, power demand in the city hovered around 5,305 MW. But with states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh overdrawing their share from the grid, Delhi continued to suffer from low frequency which resulted in load-shedding.

"Situation had become particularly bad on Monday night and due to low frequency there was no other option but to carry out load-shedding to avoid system disruption. Areas in south Delhi were affected the most," said a senior power official.

According to the residents, power cuts started from Sunday night in south and west Delhi and lasted for several hours.

Local faults compounded the problem for the residents in several areas. In Dwarka, many apartment complexes faced 12-hour power cut because of a cable fault. "A fault in the underground cable in Sector 7 affected power supply," said a BSES spokesperson.