Power supply to the National Capital would be resumed completely latest by 3 p.m., say the Power Ministry and distribution utilities.

“Already 80 per cent of power supply to residents in Delhi has been resumed. Most of the plants have come back in the last four-six hours. A few coal-based plants would take some time to reach peak output,” said Mr Gopal Saxena, Chief Executive Officer of BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd.

NTPC’s power units at Badarpur and Dadri are crucial for restoring supplies to the National Capital. The 480-MW coal-based unit at Badarpur has started operating. At the same time, the single gas-based unit of 530 MW at Dadri is operational and another two thermal units, having 1,400-1,500 MW capacity at Dadri, have also started working and currently supply around 1,000 MW to the grid, said a Power Ministry official.

Currently, the peak demand in Delhi is registered around 4,800-5,000 MW. “There is a wide fluctuation between peak offtake and average demand in Delhi. Peak offtake is sometimes seen almost double,” added Mr Saxena.

The Power Ministry has appointed a committee headed by the Chairman of CERC to look into the issue. The three-member panel will submit its report in 15 days.

Power outage leaves 8 States in dark

The States affected due to complete collapse of Northern Grid at 2.35 a.m. include Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Northern India has experienced the worst electricity disruption after almost a decade. Power supplies to nearly eight states were completely cut off, couple of hours after Sunday midnight.

The reason: collapse of the Northern Grid near Agra.

“Some fault has occurred near Agra. This is an accident. Already, teams have rushed to the spot,” the Power Minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, told newspersons.

“It has happened after 10 years. Nearly, 8,200 MW of supplies from hydropower has also been flowed in the grid since morning. Power supplies have been taken from Eastern Grid also,’’ Mr Shinde said.

National Capital worst-hit

The National Capital has been worst-affected due to the power cut. The Delhi Metro, transportation lifeline for lakhs of people, is not working which has caused severe problem. Many employees are not able to reach office on Monday morning. Railway services have also been disrupted, say TV reports.

Also, five out of six water treatment plants in Delhi are not working leading to water crisis across most parts of the Capital.

According to reports, factories in Gurgoan, Noida and Greater Noida are not operational on Monday. Offices across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad have also been hit.

Siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in