Srinagar, Dec 5: wing to a severe power crisis in the Kashmir Valley amidst plummeting temperatures, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has set out to check power pilferage with heavy fines and disconnections over the last two weeks.
The Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has conducted over 10,000 inspections and disconnected over 11,000 consumers in the last 10 days of November in the Union Territory. The department also imposed fines to the tune of Rs 85.24 crore during this period.
This includes fines for usage beyond the agreed load and stealing of electricity through ‘hooking’ on the power supply lines.
Through overnight inspections, the officers of the department have been seizing crude heating gadgets and boilers. Consumers, on the other hand, have blamed the department for erratic supply during the difficult period of winter.
The Kashmir division has been struggling to meet its electricity demands since September with Rajesh Prasad, Principal Secretary Power, J&K, stating that against a power requirement of about 2,600 MW, the administration is supplying approximately 1,400 MW by buying 700 MW from the National Power Exchange.
This costs the J-K exchequer approximately Rs 750 crore per month. By December, with rising electricity demand, this is expected to increase to Rs 850 crore.
The power supply to the Kashmir division is 1,200 MW while to Jammu is 900 MW. The availability is 1,400 MW from Central and state generating agencies and overall, the UT is supplying 2,100 MMW with the help of about 700 MW from power exchange.
The main reason for this is the UT’s dependence on hydropower which is subject to the flow of water in the rivers for generation and around 85 per cent of the power supply during winters is sourced from thermal plants to compensate for the deficit during winters, as per department officials. The department has stated that due to a dry spell in the summer, production in UT’s powerhouses diminished greatly to about 200 to 250 MW in September.
In the current financial year, the UT has entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for 1,600 MW of solar power, 900 MW from hydro, and an additional 500 MW from thermal plants, currently in progress following the decision of the UT Administrative Council under the Shakti policy.
On November 30, the Centre increased power allocation to J&K by about 293 MW by transferring power from distant powerhouses in West Bengal, Bihar, and even Bhutan.
