UP lags in power supply again, demand-supply gap widens

Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the country’s most power deficit state yet again after Jammu & Kashmir with the widening of demand-supply gap, according to a latest report on the position of countrywide power supply.

The report released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a body under the union power ministry, has put the peak deficit at more than 10% which indicates that supplying power round-the-clock in UP from April next year, as announced by the Yogi Adityanath government, may be an uphill task.

“If the state is not able to meet the restricted/limited demand now, meeting the unrestricted demand when all the villages and cities are proposed to be provided round-the-clock power will not be easy,” said a senior official at the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) requesting anonymity.

According to CEA report, the average peak demand in UP between April 2017 and March 2018 was 20,274 mw against the availability of 18,061 mw with the state not being able to meet the peak demand to the extent of 2,213 mw.

The peak deficit in UP during the period stood at 10.9% which is not only more than the all-India average of 2% but also the highest in the country after the perennially power-starved J&K where the peak shortage was 20%.

Significantly, the peak deficit in UP has increased this time. The state experienced the peak demand of 17,183 mw against the peak availability of 15,501 mw between April 2016 and March 2017 with the demand-supply gap being 9.8%.

The demand shot up by 3,091 mw during 2017-18 as compared to 2016-17. The deficit increased by 1.1% unlike in 2016-17 when it was down by 4.8% vis-à-vis in 2015-16.

The report says that the peak deficit in states under the northern region was only nominal at 0.4% in Delhi, 1.4% in Haryana, 1.3% in Rajasthan, while remaining states – Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh – had no peak shortage at all.

Among regions, peak deficit was the highest in the north-east (4.1%), followed by the northern region (3.8%), western region (0.8%) and southern region (0.2%).

There was no peak demand-supply gap in the eastern region. The peak/off-peak demand for demand is the highest in UP after Maharashtra.

Sources said the situation had gradually improved in UP during last three-four years prior to which the peak deficit used to be around 25% or even more.

“But much has to be done especially when the demand is set to touch a new high after 1.50 crore rural households are electrified by March 2019,” they said.