Punjab’s Cabinet Minister for Industry & Commerce, Investment Promotion, Power and Local Government held a press conference addressing the recent power situation in the state calling the shortage “unexpected” and part of a wider national issue.
He said the sudden power crisis began around April 18 when electricity demand sharply increased due to early and intense heat and according to the minister the government had already made preparations for summer demand but the spike came earlier than expected and he also pointed out that similar shortages are being seen across many states in India and even in some other countries.
The minister shared that Punjab’s power demand has touchs around 17,000 MW at peak while minimum demand remains close to 4,000 MW. He said the government responds according to demand but the sudden surge created pressure on the system.
He assured that the situation is now under control and claimed that there have been no major power cuts since yesterday apart from minor or temporary disruptions if any and expressed confidence that there will be no power shortage after May 1.
Explaining the reasons behind outages he said both planned and unplanned cuts happen but planned outages have increased this year due to ongoing maintenance and upgradation work while unplanned outages have reduced by nearly 70 percent compared to last year and he also added that some thermal power plants that were also affected earlier due to floods are now expected to become operational again soon.
The government is spending around Rs 6,000 crore on power infrastructure upgrades with deadlines set for mid-May however some maintenance work has been temporarily paused over the last few days to ensure continuous supply during peak demand.
To manage the situation better the minister announced that industries are now allowed to purchase electricity from the open market without additional charges and this step is expected to reduce pressure on the grid and ensure more electricity is available for residential and rural areas.
He also said that the state is purchasing additional electricity daily regardless of cost to meet demand and maintain supply.
The minister rejected claims that free electricity schemes are not the reason for the cuts saying the government remains committed to delivering what it has promised including 24x7 power supply along with the promised free units.
He added that any planned power cuts going forward will be limited to a maximum of four hours while other arrangements are also being made to stabilize supply across the state.
