A senior official of the engineering department of the Union Territory told The Indian Express the power demand in Chandigarh touched 430 MW in 2019.

Amid soaring temperatures, houses with a sanctioned load of four air-conditioners now have around 8 ACs thereby increasing the load. Amidst this rising demand, some sectors are reeling under outages as the Chandigarh administration has been forced to bring in power cuts for around one hour every day.

Chandigarh doesn’t generate power

There are more than 2.47 lakh power consumers in Chandigarh, of which 2.14 lakh or roughly 87 per cent are domestic users. Chandigarh spends approximately Rs 640 crore every year to purchase at Rs 3.26 paise per unit.

The electricity department does not have a power generation source and buys its power through its allocation from the Central generating stations (CGS) — the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), and the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd (THDC).

To meet increased demand during summers, the department sometimes procures un-requisitioned surplus power usually from power plants at Dadri, Jhajjar, Unchahar-I and Unchahar-II, among others.

According to officials, this unallocated (or extra) power quota has increased from 9 per cent to 14 per cent this year.

Chandigarh red alert

The Chandigarh Meteorological Department has already issued a red alert in Chandigarh, Punjab, and Haryana until May 24 and predicted that the temperature may touch 44 to 46 degree Celsius. Last Friday, Chandigarh recorded this season’s hottest day as the maximum temperature touched 44.5 degree — the first time in the last 13 years since the record was maintained by the MeT Department.

Following the alert, the Chandigarh administration advanced the summer break for schools.