Undeclared power cuts being resorted to in U’khand
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 18 May: With the mercury creating new record already in the ongoing summer season, the peak demand for power is only growing higher and higher. The sources claimed that this time, the demand for electricity in the state is moving towards setting a new record in the month of May itself. Yesterday, the peak demand of power in the state was above 5.4 crore units. However, as compared to the demand, the availability of electricity is only up to four crore units. UPCL is forced to buy the balance power from the market at a very expensive cost.
Though, the UPCL authorities are claiming that so far, no scheduled power cuts are being resorted to by it in the state, the ground reports suggest that UPCL has been resorting to unscheduled and undeclared power cuts. In such a situation with a clear gap between the rising demand and declining availability of power, power cuts of three to four hours are being resorted to in rural areas of Haridwar, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar. In Dehradun city also, in many colonies, undeclared power cuts are being resorted to. The cuts are being resorted to intermittently. In smaller cities and other urban areas, the UPCL sources admitted to have resorted to power cuts lasting about two hours every day.
With temperatures soaring at all time high, the consumers are getting upset due to undeclared power cuts. The UPCL press release issued today claimed that in Char Dham, 24 hours power supply is being maintained. Officially speaking, UPCL management says that power cuts have occurred only in cases of fault at the local level. To add to the woes of UPCL, many hydro power projects are being shut fully or partially for annual maintenance. In off-peak hours, electricity is available at the price of around Rs 4.5 per unit, but during peak hours, the market price of electricity has reached Rs 12 per unit. Purchasing electricity at such prices and supplying it at less than half of it is proving to be a huge loss-making deal for the UPCL and here is where the state government needs to chip in to ensure round the clock uninterrupted power supply in the state.
