Delhi gets a better deal for the allocation of power from different power plants and at the same time, the national capital is prepared in a better way to tackle the power crisis.
Amidst the power crisis all over the country during the last few days, a question is being raised about why Delhi didn’t face a similar power cut? Is there some special treatment given to Delhi being the national capital or better management that prevented the capital from cushioning its residents?
The answer is yes. Delhi gets a better deal for the allocation of power from different power plants but at the same time, the national capital is prepared in a better way to tackle the power crisis. It has become possible due to better management by private discoms and even government agencies, which have worked towards providing an uninterrupted power supply to the residents of Delhi for years now.
It is also a fact that the Delhi government raised its concerns over the ongoing coal crisis and even power minister Satyendra Jain wrote a letter to the Centre demanding sufficient coal supply to those thermal power plants from where Delhi gets the bulk of its power supply. That was based mainly on the assumption that if the coal crisis will get bigger in magnitude, then despite power agreements with different generation companies, the national capital will run into trouble.
Here are some key factors that saved Delhi so far from the ongoing power crisis, unlike the neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
The power distribution in Delhi is the responsibility of three discoms, including BRPL, BYPL, and TPDDL. While BRPL distributes power to the West and South Delhi areas, BYPL takes care of East and Central Delhi residents and TPDDL provides power supply to North and Northwest Delhi.
Power distribution in the New Delhi area is taken care of by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). All these agencies procure power on their own and then take care of the distribution as well in their designated areas.
Private power companies normally have long-term power purchase agreements with different power generation plants all over the country depending on the availability and power purchase cost. Normally, these agreements are for several years, in some cases up to 25 years as well. Long-term power purchase commitments provide extra cushion for the purchaser and seller both and are hence beneficial for both parties.
Delhi’s discoms have arranged power according to the demands during peak and off-peak seasons. According to the sources in the private distribution companies of Delhi, the three companies have arranged for almost 7500 megawatts under different allocations. The major power generation companies that are providing an electricity supply to Delhi are the Gas Turbine Power plant located at Bawana in Delhi, from which an allocation of around 1100 megawatts has been given. The Dadri-II plant in Uttar Pradesh provides almost 725 megawatts of power supply to the capital, while the Jhajjar plant in Haryana has been allocated for almost 700 megawatts.
Earlier, Delhi surrendered power allocation from the Dadri-I plant as the power purchase cost was on the higher side. Even the central government decided to allocate Delhi’s share of the Dadri-II plant to Haryana, which was challenged in the Supreme court and the court has stayed in favour of Delhi so far.
