After looming water crisis, be ready to face power crunch or loose your purse strings: Gujarat government

The state government has already indicated the alarming situation on looming water crisis in state as the major source Narmada is drying up, now citizens will have to be ready to face power cut or to shell out more money from purse during summer. The demand for power is set to rise during the hot season and the government does not have sufficient power that can cater the end users.

A senior government functionary said, "We have no option to cut power during the peak season or else we will purchase power from the costly sources. The additional cost of the power purchased has to be passed on to the end users. This summer is going to remain tough for power users."

During the winter season also, the state government was forced to purchase 300MW power from national grid at the higer cost as the power companies having signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Gujarat government could not retain the required supply. The reason behind the same is Adani and Essar have brought their power plants under non-functional mode citing the reason of higher fuel price than that of mentioned during PPA. This has caused the short fall of 3,000MW power generation, while the gas-based power plants have the generation capacity of 5000MW but that cannot be utilised as per the merit order because the rates of power are the highest.

"We are thinking to purchase power from gas based power stations. The price of power per unit ranges Rs 4.50 to 8, if power is purchased from gas based stations, and that is why the state will have to incur more cost. We will try to purchase less costly power from national grid, if made available," added the functionary.

At present, the demand for power in state is around 11,000 MW per day and the demand will rise during the hot season as the demand for power for irrigation and domestic use will increase. The energy minister Saurabh Patel denied to make any comment on this.

POWER CRUNCH

• During the winter, the state was forced to purchase 300MW power from national grid at the higher cost as the power companies having signed Power Purchase Agreement(PPA) with Gujarat government could not retain the required supply.
   
• At present, the demand for power in state is around 11,000 MW per day.