The Pune Power Model

In the early years of the new millennium, citizens of the growing industrial and commercial city of Pune, India, often faced power cuts as the state-run electricity utility struggled to meet growing demand. Government projections suggested that this situation would continue for several years. Rather than take this situation for granted, a group of concerned industrialists met under the umbrella of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the leadership of Pradeep Bhargava to find solutions to this problem. They soon realized that each of the large companies resident in the city had huge back-up diesel generation sets that were often idle since the power supplied from the grid was cheaper, even after they paid a commitment charge to the utility for ensuring continuous power supply. Could this back-up resource be used to meet the shortfall of power faced by the city? A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation revealed that the city's shortfall and the captive generating capacity of the largest companies matched each other. Feeding this power into the grid was complex technically as well as from a regulatory perspective. Instead, the group realized, why not persuade the companies to use their diesel gensets for their own consumption during peak periods, thus freeing up grid power for use by the citizens and other businesses of the city? This proposal came to be known as the Pune Power Model. Different stakeholders such as the industry regulator, citizen groups, the government, political parties and the industry had different views on the feasibility as well as the desirability of pursuing this model. This case describes the challenges faced, and the change strategies used, by the proponents of the Pune Power Model in getting the model accepted and implemented. It raises questions regarding the appropriateness of such a model as well as the role of industry in solving social problems.

• Government policy and regulation
• Leadership