RK Singh, the electricity minister, claimed on April 28 that there is a power shortage in several states because payments to generation companies have not been made.

According to Singh, several governments were not lifting indigenous coal on a war footing, instead of increasing fuel imports and enabling high fuel costs to be passed through.

“The system can meet demand as is evident from the peak demand met. Power is available on the exchanges with a tariff cap of Rs 12 per unit (in the day-ahead market). Still, they are not buying and resorting to load shedding,

According to Power Secretary Alok Kumar, the Centre’s pool still has 4,000-5,000 MW available, but there hasn’t been any demand from the states yet.

Singh indicated that the scarcity of coal at power plants is due to logistics, but that adequate fuel is available.

“We have 21 million tonnes of coal in reserve stock at power plants, which is enough for 10 days. We don’t draw from it every day, only when supply is less than consumption. Stocks are being replenished daily, rising to 400 rakes,” he told the daily.

Meanwhile, India’s peak electricity demand met the highest supply in a day on Thursday, reaching an all-time high of 204.65 GW despite the country’s prolonged heatwave.

The biggest all-India electricity demand satisfied, or the highest supply in a single day, was 201.06 GW on Tuesday, a new high. On July 7, 2021, the peak electricity supply exceeded last year’s maximum demand of 200.53 GW.