Grim power situation costing dear'

Businessline correspondent
Coimbatore, March 28

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Coimbatore, has requested the Government to take immediate steps to end the power crisis, which it estimates has caused loss in production of around Rs 4,000 crore. In a statement, Mr Mahendra Ramdas, President, ICCI, said. While the State has capacity to produce 9,445 MW of power, the demand was 11,389 MW, causing a deficit of 1,944 MW. He said the TNEB, which had proposed to provide power supply during peak hours by levying reliability charges not exceeding Rs 7 a unit, had cut the quota during peak hours by half from March 1. TNEB has now asked the HT (high tension) consumers not to use the EB power during peak hours (6 p.m.-10 p.m.) from April 1. Mr Ramdas said it is the MSME sector that has been hit the most by the power shortage and the erratic power supply has led to production loss and loss of customers.