Summer power position: Cool8217;

The UT gets 80 MW from the northern grid equivalent to about 10 lakh units per day; power is also purchased from other sources on global rates. Ropar supplies two-thirds of the UT8217;s power and the remaining amount comes from Dhulkote and Pinjore.Average consumption of power is 24 lakh units per day, with consumption going up to as high as 33 lakh units last summer. Officials expect consumption to touch 35 lakh units per day this summer.

With UT domestic connections consuming 70 per cent of the total power, efforts are being made to check power theft. About 14,000 electricity connections have been given to jhuggi dwellers, however they are not the only power thieves; big consumers also rob. The department has anti-power theft teams on the job, but officials do not disclose the total number of cases detected and total fine recovered. The UT8217;s total revenue from electricity was to the tune of Rs 138 crore during 1997-98, with about 10 per cent increase in revenue expected during the year ended March 1999.