Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Power cut regulations relaxed for a section of HT consumers

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has relaxed power cut regulations for High Tension (HT) consumers who also use captive power plants (CPPs) to fulfil their needs.

These consumers are now allowed to meet their requirements, over and above the quotas fixed by the TNEB, through CPPs, but will not be permitted to go beyond their sanctioned demand, says a Board official. The order will be issued shortly.

A 40 per cent cut has been imposed on the base energy and demand for HT industrial units and commercial establishments. Originally, it was to include the component of energy and demand that the HT consumers met through the CPPs. Responding to concerns of the consumers, the Board last month decided to exempt this component from power cut.

Under the revised scheme, the energy quota fixed for the HT consumers includes 60 per cent of the energy supplied by the TNEB and the actual energy supplied by captive power generators. The energy supplied by the Board is arrived at by deducting the energy supplied by captive power generators from the monthly base energy consumption.

More or less the same principle applies in the case of demand, too. The demand quota includes the deemed demand met through the CPPs and 60 per cent of the actual demand met through the Board. The actual demand met through the TNEB is calculated by deducting the deemed demand met through CPPs from the base demand of the respective HT consumers.

An order issued by the Board last month stated that before fixing the quotas, Superintending Engineers (SEs) of the electricity distribution circles should obtain information from CPP generators on the quantum of power that the generators intend to supply to each HT consumer.

Every Saturday, the SEs of the circles where the CPPs are located would arrange to take readings and, by Monday, convey details of energy shared among various industrial units to those SEs under whose jurisdiction the HT consumers come.

The superintending engineers should watch the demand and energy used by the consumers and compare them with the deemed demand and energy supplied by the CPP generators.

In the event of any violation of the demand and energy quotas, excess demand charges will be collected at rates specified by the Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The SEs have been advised to secure undertaking from each HT consumer agreeing to pay excess demand charges in the event of violation of the rules.

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