Mid sized steel plants in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) have lowered electricity load consumption in order to reduce their upcoming bills.
As per reports about 25-30 steel mills have lowered load to about 60 KVA. Mills have filed an application in Mar’20 and the permission has been granted by Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited (CSPDCL).
These mills include standalone furnaces which also includes rolling mills and production capacity of these mills is about 100-500 TPD, equivalent to 3,000-15,000 MT monthly. Average stock with these mills is for around 10 days, SteelMint learned from its market sources.
“Since the plants have suspended operations from 24 Mar’20, following state govt notice, we have also requested the government to remove fixed electricity charges & minimum demand charges, however there is no further update from the authority.
Presently we are facing tough times, as these high charges are to be paid, even though businesses are shutdown with no further clarity on when we will resume operations” shared Mr. Manish Dhuppad, General Secretary of Mini Steel Plant Association, Chhattisgarh.
As per him, there are about 300-400 steel mills in Chhattisgarh and the situation is expected to worsen due to closure of these plants. These plants produce sponge iron, ferro alloys, ingot/billet, rebars & structure steels.
Chhattisgarh is the big hub of secondary steel mills, which supplied material to all over India including local market.
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