Paddy season over, yet power consumption soars in Punjab

Aman Sood

Patiala, September 11

Even as experts warn of the changing weather pattern leading to a global energy crisis, Punjab is no different as it continues to face rising power demand ever since April, with a total of 14 per cent excess consumption till September this year.

Following less rainfall in the state, in the first 10 days of this month, Punjab saw the power demand continuously exceeding as compared to the same duration in 2021, with a 39 per cent jump in consumption on Saturday.

RAIN DEFICIT, CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME

As per the Met Dept data, Punjab saw 12% rain deficit this monsoon. In August, the deficit rose to 59%, which led to a spike in the power demand to a large extent. Climate change is another factor to blame. —Senior PSPCL pspcl official

The data collected from Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) confirms that in April, as compared to 3,681 million units (MUs) in 2021, Punjab saw a rise of 33 per cent to 4,883 MUs. In May, again Punjab saw 36 per cent jump in power demand from 4,660 MUs in 2021 to 6,345 MUs in 2022. June and July saw a negligible power rise in 2022, but the state again witnessed 9 per cent more energy consumption in August as compared to 2021, with 9,017 MUs.

Interestingly in September, when usually the power demand starts decreasing Punjab saw 22 per cent rise than in 2021. “As compared to 34,307 MUs in 2021, Punjab consumed 39,007 MUs,” said a senior official.

“The power rates have also gone up this year, ranging from Rs 5.17 to Rs 10.06 per unit at the energy exchange as compared to Rs 2.94 to Rs 5.06 in 2021,” he added.

A senior PSPCL official privy to developments said, “Europe, including the UK, and other countries are facing climate change and a rise in power demand. Punjab is facing that too. This year, we barely managed despite the rising demand, but a lot needs to be done to save the state from future power crisis.”

Meanwhile, sources say the PSPCL managed to maintain more than eight-hour regular power supply to agricultural pumps, without imposing any cuts on any other category of consumers. Moreover, from April to August this year, with the efficient operation of hydel and thermal plants in the state, remarkably more power has been generated in comparison to last year.

Despite the nationwide shortage of coal, the PSPCL made special efforts for its proper arrangement so that the functioning of the plants was not affected. “Due to an increase in the state’s own generation, the PSPCL dependency on the external sources for power arrangement has been significantly reduced. As a result, there has been 34 per cent and 74 per cent reduction in the energy purchased from exchange and short-

term power purchase, thus saving crores,” said a PSPCL top functionary.