Madhya Pradesh Power Crunch Hits Rural Areas Hardest As Unscheduled Outages Stretch Up To One Hour
Madhya Pradesh is witnessing unscheduled power cuts, with rural areas facing outages of 30 minutes to an hour, according to MLAs. State power demand is hovering around 14,000 MW, while limited availability in the national market and several shut hydel and thermal units are adding pressure on electricity supplies.
Madhya Pradesh Power Crunch Hits Rural Areas Hardest As Unscheduled Outages Stretch Up To One Hour | Representative image
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): With power becoming scarce in the national market due to the El Nino phenomenon, Madhya Pradesh has started witnessing unscheduled power cuts, particularly during evening hours. Elected representatives say they are flooded with complaints.
Congress MLA Bala Bachchan told Free Press that undeclared outages were causing problems. Rural areas are facing more cuts than urban centres, lasting from half an hour to one hour.
Congress MLA Pratap Grehwal said his Tribal-dominated Sardarpur constituency was witnessing outages without prior information.
The area received deficit rainfall and is staring at a drought-like situation, while unscheduled cuts have fuelled public resentment. He said he would raise the issue in the Assembly's upcoming winter session.
Demand near 14,000 MW
Power Management Company executive director Rajiv Gupta conceded that power availability in the national market had declined following deficient rainfall across the country.
Buyers now outnumber sellers. Madhya Pradesh's power demand is 14,000 MW and production is almost at the same level. Power discoms are carrying out load regulation according to their requirements.
Gupta said Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were also facing power shortages, while Madhya Pradesh was comparatively better placed.
Eight hydel units shut
At a time when the market has insufficient power for sale, several generating units in Madhya Pradesh remain shut for various reasons, further straining supply.
Energy department sources said eight hydel units were closed because of low water levels or repair and maintenance work. Six units at Gandhi Sagar and Rajghat dams have been shut following restrictions imposed by the Water Resources Department because both dams have inadequate water.
Gandhi Sagar units No. 2 and 3 are shut for repair and maintenance. The combined capacity of all these units is 160 MW.
Presently, there are various units of different power stations which have been closed either due to Annual Overhaul (AOH) or due to Boiler Tube Leakage (BTL). In these units, the state share ranges to different percentages.
Power station
Unit
Installed
capacity
MP Share
VSTPS
5
210
61
Gadarwara
2
800
376
Khalgaon
6
500
22
Lanco
1
300
264
JP Bina
2
500
160
VSTPS
12
500
124
VSTPS
7
500
141
SASAN
5
600
224
Khalgaon
7
500
22
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