Power crisis: Gujarat govt mandates industries to shut a day every week

“It is requested to inform all field offices and industrial organisations within your jurisdiction for mandatory implementation,” the order states. According to a senior GUVNL official, the average peak electricity demand in Gujarat is between 18,000 MW and 19,000 MW, 60 per cent of which is from industrial sector.

“This weekly off for industries has been there for several years but it was optional if they wanted to switch off once a week. We never made it mandatory. But the power demand has shot up suddenly. There has been demand for electricity from agricultural users as well because of the harvesting season, which is expected to end in the next 15 days. This has created a average daily shortage of over 500 MW,” said a senior official from GUVNL, speaking to The Indian Express.

“The situation is expected to improve in the next 15 days,” the official added. As per the GUVNL order, industries in all the 33 districts will observe a mandatory holiday once a week (See table).

The GUVNL official said that the government has restored the eight-hour power supply to farmers for agriculture uses since Tuesday. “Since power was restored to the agriculture sector, it was necessary to impose a power cut for industries,” the official said adding that the power supply from renewable sources was not reliable and has high fluctuations. Gujarat has a power generation capacity of 37,000 MW of which 1,5447 MW is renewable energy.

The agriculture sector in Gujarat has been facing a six-hour power cut for the past several weeks that forced the Congress to raise the issue several times during the ongoing session of the Gujarat Assembly. The Congress suggested to the government to impose a power cut on industries and supply adequate power to farmers.

While industries in Gujarat consume almost 60 per cent of the power, agriculture accounts for 22 per cent of the total consumption, while 18 per cent is consumed by domestic users.

Pointing at the difficulties due to power staggering, the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has written a letter to JP Shivhare, Managing Director of GUVNL, saying the decision will be a “death blow” to industries who have resumed functioning at full capacity after the Covid pandemic.

“As we are in the last phase of the financial year, most of the industries have made advance planning for exports and domestic deliveries. Therefore, this staggering will adversely affect them, which in turn will result in huge economic loss for the state,” Hemant Shah, president of GCCI, wrote.

Shah also pointed out that the decision, which would have significant impact on industries, was taken without prior notice. The GCCI sought the postponement of the decision for a fortnight so that alternative arrangements could be made.