Punjab Electricity Board will manage power load in paddy season

Patiala, Apr 16 (UNI) The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) today stated that the Board will be able to manage the power demands in the peak paddy season with negligible cuts, except for the weekly off- day for the industry.

In a statement issued here, PSEB Chairman Y S Ratra said that arrangements have already been made for additional power purchases through trading as also through Banking. The Board is further making arrangements of power purchases through Power Exchange, he added.

The new power arrangements will be in place from May one, he added.

Referring to reports that the PSEB had filed a petition before the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) for seeking permission to impose power cuts, he clarified that it was a mandatory requirement of a power utility to get approval from PSERC for imposing possible power cuts under Section-23 of Electricity Act-2003.

"The PSERC by its order authorises the Board to impose such restrictions/power cuts as may be necessary. It is in this context that the petition has been filed to meet this statutory requirement", he added.

It is pertinent to mention that PSEB has been regularly filing this petition to the Regulatory Commission ever-since the Commission came into existence, Mr Ratra added. Similar petition was filed and allowed but there were no power cuts on any category of consumers in the state in the year 2007-08.

This year also, it is the endeavour of the Board to ensure that no power cuts are imposed on any category of consumers except one weekly off day for industrial consumers during the coming paddy season, he added.

He further added that with preliminary forecast of a good monsoon, the PSEB rightly expects that it will be able to meet the power demands of the consumers during the coming paddy season.

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