Maharashtra extends power cuts as monsoon fails

Mumbai: The country's commercial capital will probably have to live with long hours of power cuts extending to over five hours at a stretch as the rains have suddenly stopped, belying hopes of a full blown monsoon.

Mumbai city, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Pune, will continue to witness load shedding with the ''sudden drop in rainfall and a rise in the demand for electricity,'' reports quoting sources in MSEDCL said.

MSEDCL is likely extend load-shedding across all consumer categories in the state to cope with the rise in demand.

The utility, which had reduced power cuts only in the first week of August after the monsoon returned, now blames a truant monsoon for the worsening power shortage despite the fact that much of the city's power supply is not rain dependent.

The minimum load-shedding in residential areas could go up to 5.45 hours in major cities while in towns and villages, it could go up to over nine hours, they say.
 
MSEDCL, meanwhile, is planning restrictions on power  supply to malls, multiplexes, IT offices and hoardings. It may also shut power supply to industrial units for two days in a week if power shortage continues, officials said.

Electricity demand in the state touched a whopping 14,000 MW against the fixed supply of 9,500 MW, showing a shortfall of 4,500 MW, MSEDCL officials said.

While usage of pumps by farmers have increased with the start of agricultural operations, urban usage has increased with the rise in temperature in the absence of rains, they point out.