Patiala, August 7
The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has suffered another jolt with Jammu and Kashmir stopping its daily supply of 25 lakh units. The board also lost another 200 Mega Watt of power with unit number six of the Ropar thermal plant developing a boiler tube leakage due to which it had to be shut off this morning.
Sources disclosed that Jammu and Kashmir was scheduled to supply 25 lakh units daily to the board till August 31 under a banking
arrangement under which the board supplied a similar amount of power to it during the winter months. The J and K Government has stopped the supply of power due to a power shortage in the state.
Meanwhile, the board has also lost 200 MW due to the shutting down of the Ropar thermal plant. It would need at least 30 hours before it is rectified. The board has managed to secure 15 lakh units from Uttar Pradesh. However, even this measure has not helped in bridging the gap of around 400 MW which has arisen due to the failure to meet the demand of power in the state.
Keeping in view the reduced supply, the board today announced fresh power regulatory measures with effect from August 9. Disclosing this an official press note said consumers had been divided into two groups. Group ‘A’ would comprise Patiala (except Patiala city), Muktsar, Khanna, Ferozepore, Jalandhar (except Jalandhar city), Kapurthala, Ropar, Mohali (except Mohali city), Hoshiarpur and Faridkot circles. Group ‘B’ would include Sangrur, Gurdaspur, Nawanshahr, Bathinda (except Bathinda city), Ludhiana (sub-urban), Tarn Taran, Amritsar (except city ) and Amritsar (sub-urban) circles.
Group ‘A’ consumers would get daily supply from 4 am to 8 am and from 12.00 noon to 4 pm. Their supply would remain off from 8 am to 12 noon and 4 pm to 7 pm.
Group ‘B’ consumers would get supply daily from 8 am to 12 noon and from 3 pm to 7 pm. Their supply would remain off from 4 am to 8 am and 12 noon to 3 pm.
The board has also disclosed that extended peak load hours (nine hours) would remain applicable on all industrial consumers having sanctioned load of 70 KW and above except
Essential Services. It said industrial consumers, including induction and arc furnace consumers, would be exempted from observing compulsory weekly day off. All small power consumers with sanctioned load of 20 KW would get supply from 9 am to 7 pm, irrespective of the group in which they fall.
The board has also announced that use of airconditioners has been banned for the non-residential category. It said any consumer found guilty of violating these instructions would be first given a warning following which his power supply would be disconnected for two days for the first default and for four days for each subsequent default.
