GUWAHATI, June 14 – Though consumption of electricity has increased by as much as 6 percent in Assam over the one year period from 2001-02 to 2002-03, the State’s power generation has continued to decline leaving the people starved for power. The demand-supply shortfall during 2002-03 was 23.78 percent, according to data supplied by the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB).
Assam, despite its tremendous potential to generate power ranging from hydel to natural gas, including oil and coal resources, has not been able to make any progress in this sector. “There exists a big gap between availability and demand for power in the State,” the Assam Economic Survey (2003-04) says.
The State accounts for only a small fraction (0.16 percent) of the total generation of electricity in the country during 2000-01. On the contrary, consumption of power in the State has been increasing in recent years. The average per capita consumption of electricity in the State was 120 Kwh in 2000-01 and 140 Kwh in 2001-02.
The installed power capacity, however, has remained the same since 1997-98, merely 574.4 MW. The share of thermal power is 300 MW, of hydel power 2 MW and of gas-based power 274.4 MW. Even that has not been properly harnessed. Electricity generation in the State has been on the downslide since 1996-97. During 2001-02, the generation of power decreased by 10.1 percent as compared to the previous year. It went down further by 11.2 percent during 2002-03. In 2000-01, thermal power generated in the State was 74.782 MU. It went down to 46.24 MU in 2001-02 and zero in 2002-03. Hydel power generation during the period was also nil. Gas-based generation was 934.96 MU in 2000-01, 840.406 MU in 2001-02 and 746.094 MU in 2002-03.
The energy requirement in the State, on the other hand, has been on the rise. It was 3,323.160 MU in 2000-01, 3,415.317 MU in 2001-02 and 3,500 MU in 2002-03. Total energy availability was 2,984.970 MU in 2000-01, 3,301.588 MU in 2001-02 and 3,304.737 MU in 2002-03. Peak demand for power rose from 552.5 MW in 2000-01 to 578.3 MW in 2001-02 and 614 MW in 2002-03. The demand was fully met in 2000-01. But in 2001-02, only 519.3 MW power was supplied to meet the peak demand and in 2002-03 a mere 468 MW was supplied leaving a huge gap.
In order to meet the domestic demand, the State continued to purchase power from other sources. The amount of power purchased has been increasing every year to meet the growing demand as a result of depletion in power generation under ASEB’s own system. During 2001-02, the net import of power by the State was 2,461.182 MU. It increased to 2,582.737 MU during 2002-03.
Electricity consumption in the State has increased to 1,783.913 MU Kwh during 2002-03 as against 1,682.978 MU Kwh during 2001-02. The number of power consumers have increased from 9,02,196 in March 2001 to 9,48,148 on March 2002. The pattern of consumption showed that it was highest in the domestic sector, followed by industry and tea. In 2002-03, the domestic sector accounted for 37.1 percent of total consumption of power in the State. Industry consumed 17.5 percent while the share of tea was 14.5 percent.
Compared to the previous year, the consumption of power by the domestic sector increased by more than 16 percent whereas consumption by industry and tea decreased by 17.1 percent and 12.2 percent respectively. The number of domestic consumers was 8,02,270 on March 2002.
The 1991 Census put the number of inhabited villages in the State at 24,685. Till March 2003, the total number of villages electrified in the State was 19,039. The percentage of villages electrified stood at 77.13. But that figure has to be seen against the fact that even a single power point in the village qualifies it to be ranked among electrified villages. And as far as the actual power supply is concerned, the less said the better.