S P Nagtilak, MSEDCL’s chief engineer for Pune division, said the projects for Pune urban and Pune rural have been sanctioned at Rs 529 crore and Rs 415 crore respectively.

The demand for new connections is nearly 10 per cent and with more than 18 lakh consumers in the city and district together, the MSEDCL is updating its equipment and developing 50 33-KV substations. The estimated demand is 365 MW for Pune urban and 240 MW for Pune rural.

At present there are 121 33-KV substations. As per the plan, 24 more will be installed phase-wise in the rural areas and 26 in urban areas over the next three years. The existing substations are old and with additional consumers it is feared that the system will not be able to handle the load.

The project includes 5,400 additional distribution transformers in the system. This can reduce fluctuations in voltage and also cater to load growth. Vijay Electricals will develop infrastructure at Baramati, Manchar and Daund while Deepak Cables has been selected for Kothrud, Bhosari and Bundgarden.

“We will also add new lines, including high tension lines for at least 4,000 km and low tension lines up to 500 km, over the next three years,” said Nagtilak.

Revenue down
Target: Rs 400 cr from HT lines in December
Earning:Rs 370 cr

Causes: Block closure of commercial vehicle plant of Tata Motors for nearly a week