Patna, Aug. 29: Residents of the state capital may get rid of power woes that have been a constant source of anguish for them. The ambitious plan may pinch their pockets, though.

Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) has prepared an action plan to provide round-the-clock power supply to the residents of the city. No time frame, however, has been set to implement it.

Sources said when the scheme is implemented, the city would become a member of the select club of cities, where power supply is provided round-the-clock. However, to avail this facility, the citizens would have to shell out 10 per cent more on energy consumption as a premium charge.

“We have chalked out an action plan for assured supply of power in the state capital for 24 hours. To implement it, we will have to minimise breakdowns and strengthen our transmission and distribution network besides suggesting an alternative mechanism to provide power supply in the event of any major breakdown,” the chairman of the board, Prabhat Kumar Rai, told The Telegraph.

When he was asked when the board is expected to implement the scheme, Rai did not commit to any specific time frame. Instead, he said the board was in the process of working out things for the early and smooth implementation of the scheme. Rai said the board had been making frantic efforts to improve the power scenario in the state, particularly in the state capital, which had to face power cuts for two to four hours daily during the peak season.

Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (Berc), while announcing the new electricity tariff rate for 2011-12 on June 1 this year, rejected the board’s proposal to introduce an increased tariff rate for the state capital. However, Berc gave liberty to the board to impose an additional 10 per cent premium on energy bills for providing round-the-clock power supply. Some exceptions were allowed to the board such as nature’s fury and major technical snag in grids.

The power-starved state is desperately dependent on the central sector allocation to meet its energy requirement of 2,500MW. The state gets between 1,000MW and 1,200MW of power from central sector besides its own paltry generation of 100MW. Of this, Patna is supplied 415MW against its demand of 550MW to 600MW.

Residents of the state capital, however, have reasons to be hopeful. The state electricity board has signed a short-term agreement with National Thermal Power Corporation Vidyut Vyapar Nigam for supply of 300MW of electricity between September and November this year.

“We will get 300MW of additional power from the open market for three months. Patna will certainly get more allocation from it,” the chairman said.

The increased supply would mean less power cuts. Sources said Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) also has a plan to provide power for longer hours and check problems.

Pesu general manager SKP Singh told The Telegraph: “We will try to implement the round-the-clock power supply according to our strategy and blueprint by the end of September or early October. We will also try to redress problems by attending fuse-off calls at night and repairing transformers as soon as possible.”

Residents, too, welcomed the move. Rajiv Nagar resident Ravindra Kumar Singh said no one would complain about the slight increase in the tariff if the board ensured round-the-clock power supply.