State faced power deficit of 582 MW in 2015-16

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 16

Jammu and Kashmir faced electricity deficit of 582 MW that is 21.8 per cent during 2015-16 leaving lakhs of people to deal with daily power cuts during scorching summer and frosty winter months.

In technical terms, it means a shortage of 21.8 units of energy in supply for every 100 units of demand of consumers in the state. A government report said during this fiscal, the peak demand for electricity across the state was 2,740 MW while the Power Development Department (PDD) was able to supply only 2,158 MW leaving a deficit of 582 MW.

Though the deficit has come down from 35.83 per cent in 2011-12, decades of mismanagement by the government and power theft by consumers has affected the power situation in J&K.

Despite the state having an abundant hydro-power potential, power sector and conflict have emerged as a major reason for stalling the economic growth of state for decades. The result is that the government is investing a major chunk of funds to repay the power purchase debt.

On several other parameters, the PDD has also failed to recover the targeted revenue in shape of electricity tariff, which is lowest in the past five years.

In 2015-16, Rs 3,357 crore was to be earned on electricity supplied to consumers, out of which only Rs 1,937 crore has been realised. This is 50 per cent of the amount and is the lowest in the last five years.

To bridge the widened gap between the supply and demand, the PDD has enforced power cuts. Even after the cuts, the restricted demand was around 14,226 million units (MUs) in 2015-16.