India / Delhi may face power crisis, tweets Kejriwal; writes to PM over coal shortage

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday raised an alarm that the national capital could face “a power crisis” due to the “coal shortage situation”. 

“I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it. In the meanwhile, I wrote a letter to Hon‘ble PM seeking his personal intervention,” he wrote on Twitter.

In the letter seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s “personal intervention”, Arvind Kejriwal wrote: “I draw your attention to the prevailing coal shortage situation that is continuing since August/September 21 for the third month in a row, which has affected the power generation from the major Central Generating Plants supplying power to NCT of Delhi”.

The Delhi Chief Minister listed the coal stock for the various stations adding that under the current situation, “the dependency on Gas Stations supplying power to Delhi increases” which “do not have adequate APM gas to run at full capacity”. 

Expressing concern, he wrote that “if this situation continues unabated, it would severely impact the power supply situation in Delhi”.

The Delhi Chief Minister has requested the intervention of PMO to ensure adequate diversion of coal from other plants supplying to the national capital.

Other measures include, APM gas to be allocated to plants supplying power to Delhi, Adequate quantity of NAPM gas to be supplied to Delhi‘s power stations.

“Maximum rate of Power sold in any slot through the Exchange, currently at Rs. 20 per unit, may be suitably capped to discourage profiteering by traders/generators from the current crisis,” he advised.

He deemed the measures as essential to maintain uninterrupted power in Delhi citing supply to essential services like the cold chains for the vaccination drives, hospitals, health care centers, Covid care centers, etc.

Tata Power Arm Asks Delhi Customers To ‘Use Electricity Judiciously’

As per news agency PTI, Tata Power's arm operating in Delhi has sent phone messages to its customers to use electricity judiciously in the afternoon referring to the coal shortage crisis.

Tata Power arm Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL), which operates mainly in northwest Delhi, has sent the SMS (message) to its customers, the news agency reported a source as saying.

The SMS sent on Saturday stated: “Due to limited coal availability in generation plants across north, power supply scenario between 2 pm to 6 pm is at critical level. Kindly use electricity judiciously. Be a responsible citizen. Inconvenience caused is regretted - Tata Power-DDL”.

Last week, Power Minister RK Singh had admitted to the coal shortage at thermal power plants in the country and termed it beyond usual.

Later, he said that the power demand would be moderated in the second half of October, and coal supplies will also improve at plants.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister‘s Letter To PM Modi

Ahead of Delhi‘s CM letter, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s "urgent personal attention" to monitor the power generation scenario and take appropriate remedial measures to tide over the crisis in view of the non-availability of coal stocks.

“In AP, the post-Covid power demand increased by 15 per cent in the last six months and by 20 per cent in the last one month. The power sector is being pushed into turmoil because of coal shortage. It has become increasingly difficult for us to meet the grid demand and the circumstances are pushing us towards load shedding," the Chief Minister wrote in the letter to PM Modi.

Coal Shortage Situation

According to a report by the BBC, power consumption in India in the last two months alone jumped by almost 17 per cent, compared to the same period in 2019.

The coal shortage issue comes as global coal prices increased by 40 per cent at the same time and India‘s imports fell to a two-year low.

Power plants that usually rely on imports are now heavily dependent on Indian coal, adding further pressure to already stretched domestic supplies, the report stated.

BBC also reported a senior government official, on the condition of anonymity, as confirming that the situation is worrying.