Srinagar- With the finale of fiscal 2024, the Power Development Department in Jammu and Kashmir was abiding by its ‘old and obsolete infrastructure’ amidst mounting demand for electricity that has increased by more than four per cent in the past seven years.
However, the department has claimed that it would double the hydel power generation by 2026 through four power projects having power generation capacity of 3014 MWs.
Further, it has also said that the power generation capacity is proposed to be augmented by 3284 MWs through the four power projects.
Power generation shortage
Till the month of December, the power generation from the state pool had reduced by nearly 80 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.
KNO had reported that “From across the regions, the total power generation capacity is 1200 Megawatts. However, as of now, we are only able to generate a total of 200-260 Megawatts of power from the UT pool.”
Till November 2024, there was a demand of nearly 2000-2100 Megawatts. However, there was an availability of only 1600-1650 megawatts.
During the curtailment hours, KPDCL was cutting off nearly 200-250 Megawatts during the peak hours.
In the last two months of 2024, Jammu and Kashmir records a very low generation of power because of less rainfall. In these months, the PDD was able to generate only 40-50 megawatts of power from the power grids of Kashmir. However, from one of the power grids in Chenab Valley, the department was usually generating nearly 150 megawatts of power in the evening and late hours.
Use of outdated, obsolete infrastructure
In an official document, authorities had said, “The replacement of existing old and out-dated elements of the distribution network has never been given due consideration and many of which are therefore continuing in the system for more than 40 years after repeated repairs.”
Not only old and obsolete, Jammu and Kashmir was able to harness only 3504.90 MW of power while the region has a potential of 20,000 Megawatt (MW) hydel power generation.
The Planning Department and Monitoring Department in ‘JK Vision Document 2047’ has stated, “Opportunities J&K is bestowed with huge hydel generation potential, however, out of the total identified potential of 20,000 Megawatt (MW), only 3504.90 MW has been harnessed so far leaving as much as 16500 MW of the identified potential is yet to be tapped.
Power Gaps lead to unscheduled power, distress cuts
Till the second week of December, there was a huge gap of nearly 200 MWs to overcome the unscheduled power and distress cuts in Kashmir.
The ‘official’ of PDD had said that the local DISCOM in Kashmir valley was not getting the same amount of power in which the consumers could not face distress cuts and unscheduled power cuts.
“Till the second week of December, the local DISCOM, KPDCL had a requirement of at least 1700 Megawatts to provide distress-free power to the consumers as per the load curtailment schedule so that there are no unscheduled power cuts. But the distribution company was getting less than 1500 MW of power.” the official said.
DT damage in winters
Till the first week of December, on an average at least 50 Distribution Transformers (DTs) of different load capacities were getting damaged every day in Kashmir Valley.
A top official had said, “On average, at least 50 DTs were getting damaged every day. The main reason for the damage to DTs is overloading and using crude heating gadgets.”
He had said, “Most of the DTs were getting damaged in rural areas wherein most of the consumers are unmetered.”
In the meantime, KPDCL had said that in the month of November, at least 1043 DTs were damaged and 1035 were restored simultaneously.
Power pilferages
In 2024, KPDCL recorded more than a thousand power theft cases through illegal hooking on bare conductor lines.
An official said, “In the year 2024, the DISCOM had taken an upbeat approach and we have done nearly 50,000 inspections and disconnections.”
The official further said that the team of KPDCL has saved hundreds and thousands of units of energy during the number of inspection drives.
Metering the consumers
The official documents reveal that there are 23.45 lakh electric connections and consumers of different categories in JK who are being catered to electric power supply.
“At least 14 lakh smart meters are targeted to be installed, 7.27 lakh smart meters are targeted to be installed by March 2025 out of which 5.78 Lakhs stand installed,” reads the document.
It also said that the government will complete the loss reduction infrastructure projects by March 2025.
Power consumption surge by 13 Pc
The electricity consumption in Jammu and Kashmir has increased by more than thirteen per cent in the past four years.
The official documents reveal “Over the span from 2020-21 to 2023-24, Jammu and Kashmir saw a steady increase in electricity consumption per capita, rising from 1,322 Kilowatt-Hour (KWHr) to 1,507KWHr.”
“This trend reflects a growing demand for power amidst a population increase from 13.41 million to 13.70 million, with units purchased and consumed escalating from 17,721.76 million to 20,644.47 million units over the period,” it reads.
Unscheduled outages, distress cuts
People of many areas in Kashmir continue to face unscheduled outages in both ‘metered and non-metered’ locales.
The electricity consumers of different areas say that the KPDCL was unable to cater the least expected services to them or were ‘making concocted promises’ which the DISCOM couldn’t deliver with the officials of PDD saying that the Power demand was gradually increasing because of the intense cold weather conditions.
“If there are any areas that are facing unscheduled power outages and distress cuts, we will work on streamlining the issue,” the official had said.
Power purchase ‘hollows JK’s exchequer’
In Jammu and Kashmir, the expenditure trend over the years reveals that a huge part of total expenditure is on the purchase of power with the official documents stating that analysis of expenditure trends over the years reveals that the UT of JK faces hard budget constraints on account of the sizable committed nature of its expenditure.
“They include interest payments, salaries and pensions. Cumulatively, they constituted nearly 73 per cent of its total expenditure in FY 2023-24. A significant part of the total expenditure of the UT is on purchase of power,” it reads.
The documents further said that although power purchase expenditure cannot be classified as committed expenditure. “Yet in the case of the U,T it has assumed the nature of committed expenditure because of the historical practice of huge under-recoveries from the sale of the power sector.”
“In recent years, there has been some increase in the power receipts with improvement in metering. However, despite this, the gap between the cost of power purchase bill and receipts is substantial,” it reads.
AT&C losses
The official documents reveal that the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses have reduced from 55 per cent in 2016-17 to 48 per cent in 2023-24.
Last year, the AT&C loss of the Power Development Department was one of the highest in India—causing a gap between power purchase costs.
In the previous fiscal, the AT&C losses were of the order of 50 per cent against the national average of 19.73 per cent.
Developments, roadmap
The official documents reveal that it was doubling the hydel power generation by 2026 by heading four power projects having power generation capacity of 3014 MWs.
Further, power generation capacity is also proposed to be augmented by 3284 MWs through four power projects
It also said that the per capita electricity purchased and consumption recorded an average growth rate of 4.10 per cent per annum with 1171KWHr to 1507 KWHr in the last 7 years.
The documents further reveal that the government has made substantial investments of approximately Rs 2,000 Crores in enhancing its transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure to 31,743.5 MVA in 2024.
Similarly, the length of T&D lines has been extended to 166,376.05 Km. This infrastructure development was aimed at bolstering the region’s power transmission capabilities.
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