Industries pay heavy price

It's not just residents who are feeling the pinch of rising back-up bills in the city. Amid long outages, industries are also battling production losses to the tune of 50%.

It's not just residents who are feeling the pinch of rising back-up bills in the city. Amid long outages, industries are also battling production losses to the tune of 50%.

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As per estimates, about 75% of the total production in Gurgaon is dependent on diesel-run captive power plants and gensets. Since the cost of producing one unit of electricity on diesel gensets is nearly R14 (DHBVN supplies power at the rate of R5 per unit), inflated power bills are a major concern for industries in the satellite city.

According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the current power and water shortage in NCR may reduce industrial production by nearly 35-40% and severely impact the competitiveness of SMEs (small medium enterprises).

As part of an assessment by ASSOCHAM (Increase in Industrial Losses due to Power Shortages), feedback from industrial units reveals that current electricity demand at different locations in Gurgaon has gone beyond 400MW against availability of not more than 200MW.

DHBVN officials, however, pass the buck saying the shortage was triggered due to shortage in coal supply to thermal power plants, a couple of which have already been shut.