Despite buying power, state to face shortfall: MSEDCL

Vijay Singhal, Managing Director of MSEDCL told The Indian Express, “Since the pandemic subsided, there has been a demand for power in all the states due to a surge in activities. Each state is facing a coal shortage.”

He said, “At present, the demand in Maharashtra has shot past 28,000 MW per day and there is a shortfall of nearly 4,000 MW per day. In some places, private power generation companies were demanding as high as Rs 20 per unit, but later the Government of India capped the price at around Rs 12 per unit.

“I have spoken to power company heads in nearly 10 states, including Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and all are complaining about power shortage. In October too, we had a coal shortage, but we generated more power from the Koyna Hydroelectric Power Plant. This is the first time that the irrigation department has sanctioned a quota of 10 TMC of water and we can generate nearly 1,000 MW of power from this source. Another 700 MW is coming from National Thermal Power Corporation for the past 10 days. We have also sought 760 MW from Coastal Gujarat Power and the state has started getting 415 MW from there,” Singhal added.

“Despite this, there will be a shortfall of nearly 1,500 MW and we may have to resort to load shedding and are urging people to save power in peak hours. I am told that states like Andhra Pradesh are doing load shedding of nearly 50 per cent in industrial areas, but the condition in Maharashtra will not be so bad,” he said.