Power Cuts Blight Madhya Pradesh Amid Poor Thermal, Hydroelectric Output

While Madhya Pradesh has signed power purchasing agreements for 21,000 megawatts (MW) per day, the demand is only around 9,000 MW.

Anger is simmering anger in parts of Madhya Pradesh where people have been experiencing up to 20 hours of unscheduled power cuts. With many of the state's power generating units not functioning at all and even the rest operating at roughly only 30 per cent capacity, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government is beginning to face blowback from not only the opposition but also from the ruling BJP's own MLAs. While it has signed power purchasing agreements for 21,000 megawatts (MW) per day, including from state-based units, private sector, and the central pool, while demand is only around 9,000 MW. Yet, it has to buy more power to avoid cuts even as generation from state units is only 7,900 MW a day. Meanwhile, nine of the state's 16 power-generating projects are currently dysfunctional.