Power Crisis Brings Panjab’s Industries & Agriculture Sector to a Halt

September

2026

Panjab is reeling under a severe power crisis, with electricity demand rising to around 16K MW and continuing to remain high due to a weak monsoon. Industrialists and farmers are protesting unscheduled and prolonged power cuts lasting as long as 12–14 hours. Meanwhile, the state government has transferred Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Basant Garg and appointed Principal Secretary Gurkirat Kirpal Singh to the post. The Panjab Government has maintained that the power cuts were necessitated by inadequate coal supplies to the state's thermal power plants from the union government. Erratic coal supplies have restricted power generation to around 6K MW. The state's peak load touched 16,619 MW on 11 Sep, compared with 12,489 MW on the same day in 2025. Experts say a pan-India coal shortage and poor monsoon planning worsened the problem. Plants that failed to maintain adequate coal reserves were among the first to face reduced power production. Heavy rainfall in coal-producing states, including Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, has disrupted mining operations and slowed coal movement to thermal plants. Power utilities are being forced to buy expensive electricity from the market as several thermal power plants are operating below capacity. Rice millers have been forced to shut down their milling operations. Of the state’s 5,500 rice mills, a small section receives Category I supply, while the majority fall under Categories II and III, which have been severely affected by power cuts. President of the Rice Millers Association Bharat Bhushan Binta said, ‘The cuts last as long as 15 hours a day. The situation has been acute for the past 15 days, and because our industry runs round-the-clock operations, we are bearing heavy losses.’ Senior Indian National Congress leader and former Panjab Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of mismanaging Panjab’s power sector, causing unannounced cuts across agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors. He alleged that the government had failed to prepare for the El Niño weather pattern despite warnings from meteorological agencies, leaving Panjab without adequate power reserves or coal buffers before the peak paddy season. Panjab Power Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh has said that several private power plants across India are operating at around half their capacity due to the coal shortage (earlier coverage).