Power crisis looms large over Gurgaon

If the month of March is any indication, June and July could well be the worst on the power supply front in Gurgaon, reports Sanjeev K Ahuja.

If the month of March is any indication, June and July could well be the worst on the power supply front in Gurgaon.

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Unscheduled outages to the tune of six to nine hours a day have already begun here, with diesel-run captive power plants and small-capacity generators working overtime.

“As against the total current average demand of 120 lakh units a day, Gurgaon is receiving around 95 lakh units supply,” admits A K Jain, chief engineer, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN).

That’s a clear-cut deficit of 25 lakh units.

Jain, however, blames snags in a couple of power plants in Panipat and Khedar for the shortfall.

In Gurgaon, where power consumption increases by 20 percent annually as against 7-9 percent in the rest of Haryana, the gap between demand and supply here is all set to grow to 30-40 lakh units a day, even as the total daily demand is likely to grow over 150 lakh.

The supply may linger around 115 lakh units a day on the average.

“We have already started feeling the pinch. The power supply has become erratic and diesel consumption of our power generators has shot up from 8000 litres a month to about 18,000 litres a month,” said Rajesh Kumar, president of Cedar Estate Group Housing Society.

The situation is no better for residents of independent houses in plotted areas of DLF City, Sushant Lok, Palam Vihar, Southcity, sectors developed by HUDA and those in the old Municipal council jurisdiction.

DHBVN records suggest that the average power supply in June last year had been around 115 lakh units a day, while the demand had risen beyond 135 lakh units.

A K Jain of DHBVN, however, said the current problem was due to snags developed in two power plants and claimed that the situation would improve in a couple of days.

“To meet the rising demand during summers, we have decided to make short-term purchases of power from other states. The current month could be a little troublesome as we also have to supply power to farmers waiting to harvest the wheat crop,” Jain.