NEW DELHI: India will be a surplus country in 2018-19 the Central Authority ( ) said on Sunday. The CEA pegged energy and peak at 4.6 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively, this fiscal. However, the authority had made similar claims last year and the year before that, too, but ended up with deficit. The CEA in its load generation balancing report (LGBR) had projected that India would become a power surplus nation in 2017-18. But the peak power deficit was 2.1 per cent while overall electricity deficit was 0.7 per cent across the country in the fiscal. In April-June quarter this fiscal, peak power deficit was 0.7 per cent while overall electricity deficit stood at 0.6 per cent. Also, becoming a power surplus country does not indicate an end to power cuts. India is power surplus because the installed generation capacity is higher (at around 344 GW) than what we need (peak demand of 170 GW). But, the deficit in supply is primarily because of the ' (discoms) reluctance to buy power either due to lack of funds or the lack of faith in people paying up their bills. Limited transmission and distribution networks in remote and hilly areas also add to the the trouble. Centre's plans of bringing power to every home by March 2019 depends a lot on the discoms. Whether India's millions of people come out of darkness will be decided not just by how much power we generate but also by how much these discoms can afford to buy and light up these homes.
India will be a power surplus country in the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which forecast energy and peak power surpluses at 4.6% and 2.5% respectively. The CEA made the same claim last year, however, and was proved wrong. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year peak power was 0.7% down and overall energy 0.6% lower, mainly because distribution companies were reluctant to buy power and some areas had limited access. Industry observers also said that even if a power surplus emerged this year it would not mean an end to power cuts.