Load-shedding at industries to be reduced: Deputy CM

MUMBAI: Load-shedding at industrial plants will be reduced from 16 hrs a week to 8 hrs, said deputy CM and state energy minister Ajit Pawar.
Pawar also said that the government was considering the possibility of providing power at concessional rates to industrial units at night. ''We have asked Ajay Mehta, managing director of MSEDCL, to study the plan and inform us about its feasibility,'' Pawar added.ndustries will suffer less this summer as the state government plans to reduce load-shedding from the current 16 hours a week to eight hours a week, said Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister incharge of energy.
Pawar said the government was also considering reviving its policy of providing electricity at a concessional rate to industries for night use. "We have asked Ajay Mehta to study the issue and inform about its feasibility,'' said Pawar. Mehta is the managing director, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).
From 1992 when there was zero load-shedding across the state, the exponential growth in demand for power and inability to add capacity resulted in load-shedding from one hour in 1993 to 6-12 hours in 2010.
MSEDCL is expecting to get 4,200 MW additional power by April from Jinal power plant, Dabhol Parli-Paras and Khapari-Bhusaval plants. Another 1,000 MW will be procured by MSEDCL from the open market.
These include 300 MW from Jindal power plant. Dabhol Parli-Paras and Khapari-Bhusaval plants will add an additional 500 MW and NTPC's Korba plant will provide another 150 MW. Another 1,000 MW will be procured by MSEDCL from the open market.
Also the company would have put in place a feeder separation programme for the agriculture sector so that the 30 lakh agricultural pumps which draw 3,500 MW power will not do so during peak hours.