Bihar will discuss ways and means to supply power smoothly to people at the two-day 33rd Eastern Regional Power Committee (ERPC) beginning in the city on Friday.

Upgrade, modernisation and additional facilities to perk up the transmission and distribution system in the state would be discussed as the projected demand for power in the state is likely to touch 4,500MW by year-end.

Around 100 representatives from Bihar and other member states like Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Sikkim, power-generating and transmission companies operating in the state and neighbouring Bhutan will participate in the meeting.

"The state has witnessed a 25 per cent per annum growth vis-à-vis demand for power over the past three years. It touched an all-time-high of 3,655MW on May 6," Bihar State Power Generation Company Limited and Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited managing director R. Lakshmanan said. "It is expected to exceed 4,500MW by year-end owing to massive rural electrification work and industrialisation activities. We will discuss how to take it to the people smoothly."

Urban areas currently get power for 22 to 24 hours and rural areas for 16 to 18 hours, Lakshmanan said.

"Areas like Sitamarhi, Sheohar, West Champaran and Gopalganj get less than 16 hours of power because of constraints in the transmission system. However, projects are underway and the situation will improve in the next 3-6 months," he said.

The country is demarcated into five regional power committees - northern, western, southern, eastern, and northeastern - facilitating the integrated operation of the power system, its stability, smooth operation of integrated grids, as well as, economy and efficiency in operation.

Among the regional committees, ERPC assumes significance as it is connected to all the other regions. Also, power from hydel projects in Bhutan, in which Indian companies are stakeholders, passes to other parts of the country through ERPC.

Currently, Bihar energy department principal secretary and chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) Pratyaya Amrit is the chairperson of ERPC, whose quarterly meetings are held on rotation basis in the five member states.

Lakshmanan said the technical coordination committee (TCC) under ERPC will examine the upgradation and modernisation proposals put forth by member states on the first day of the meeting and then recommend it to the committee board. Once the board approves them, they will be sent to the