Generation down, power board procuring 200 lu from outside
The state electricity board is procuring over 200 lakh units (lu) per day from outside the state to meet its daily power demand of around 370 lakh units per day. While it’s getting around 130 lakh units daily through banking system — the state gives surplus energy to other states in summers and gets it back in winters – around 80 lakh units are being procured through market tie-ups and open market.
“Under market tie-ups, we purchase power much earlier as we know there will be deficit in winters. Besides, some power has to be purchased from open market on real time basis to manage sudden increase in demand or dip in generation,” said an HPSEBL official.
Incidentally, the power generation in the state has dropped to around 20 per cent of the peak power generation. Over the last few days, the daily power generation has been around 150-160 lakh units per day.
Of this, the HPSEBL managed projects are generating around 18 lakh units per day, the generation from the projects run by Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) is 7 lakh units per day. Besides, the board is getting around 33 lakh units free power from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and around 100 lakh units from the Central Public Sector Undertakings operating in the state.
As per the power official, the decline in power generation is just like any other year due to less availability of water in rivers in winters. “Power generation had dropped to roughly the same level (150-160 lakh units per day) at this time during last year as well,” the official said. “Besides, the demand too was roughly the same at this time last year,” he said.
As per the official, the generation won’t go down any further. “From February onwards, the generation will start looking upward a little bit, but the significant change in generation starts from March and April onwards,” he said.
