After 5 years, Pune faces load-shedding again

Power cuts are back in the city after a gap of five years. Citizens had to go without power for an hour on Saturday due to load-shedding introduced by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).

An MSEDCL official told DNA there are problems in power generation due to the Telangana agitation. He added that the load-shedding is temporary and would be in effect for the next few days.

In urban areas of Pune zone, the load-shedding is imposed for an hour every day. In rural areas it is for two-and-a-half to five-and-a-half hours per day. In Pune city, the load-shedding is in the mornings in some areas, while it is in the evenings in other areas.

But the power utility has not released any timetable.

Load-shedding was stopped in the city after introduction of the Pune Model - generation of additional power by captive power plants of industries to fill the gap between demand and supply - in 2006.

The Pune Model was introduced at the behest of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) under leadership of Pradeep Bhargava. Later on, the mechanism of the Pune Model was changed, but it was introduced in the state in major cities as the zero load-shedding model. It was withdrawn in July as the power supply situation improved and with that the additional tariff called reliability charge was also withdrawn.

The MSEDCL introduced load-shedding in the Pune zone on September 26 due to the Telangana stir, but it led to power cuts only in some rural areas. Now, the load-shedding is introduced in Pune city. 

According to the MSEDCL, the supply of coal to power generation plants of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is affected due to the Telangana agitation, which has led to decline in power generation at Korba, Vindhyachal and Kahalgaon. Power generation at Parali thermal power plant of the Maharashtra State Electricity Generation Company Limited (Mahagenco) was also affected due to coal supply problem after the Telangana agitation.

Coal supply from Orissa to Khaparkheda, Parali, Paras and Chandrapur plants of Mahagenco is affected due to floods in Mahanadi river. All these developments have led to less availability of power to the MSEDCL.

The MSEDCL is trying to make up for the shortfall in power supply by buying expensive power from any source, but it is not available in sufficient quantity. Maximum power generation of 2000 MW is being done at Koyana hydro electric project. But in spite of all these measures, there is shortfall due which the load-shedding is introduced on temporary basis.

Meanwhile, president of Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM), Vivek Velankar told DNA that citizens are facing load-shedding after five years. The MSEDCL has surplus amount of about Rs100 crore related to Pune city due to collection of reliability charge for the zero load-shedding model. The power utility should use that money to provide additional power and to avoid load-shedding during festive season, he said.