The lesser inflow of water into rivers and the declining levels in dams and reservoirs across the southern, western and north-eastern regions of the country have led to a sharp decline in power generation, particularly hydro-power. The gas-based stations have also been under-performing due to shortage of fuel, leading to outages, power cuts and blackouts in many parts of the country. The power crisis has hit both domestic consumers and industrial units. In Punjab, industry is up in arms against constant power cuts that have impacted their production and delivery schedules badly. The situation is no better in Haryana, where power cuts continue to rule the roost. Poor monsoon and lack of water in the dams and reservoirs in South and Northeast India has further aggravated the situation with the Central sector hydro stations also coming under pressure due to this phenomenon. This has led to shortage of around 300 million units during the April-June 2008 in the Central sector alone. Karnataka seems to be the worst hit with a poor monsoon badly derailing the power sector. The State now faces a shortage of about 700 MW, a situation that threatens to go out of hand if rains fail. The State generates about 48 million units of power a day from the hydro resources while the total consumption is 117 million units. Windmills the saviour Tamil Nadu has been experiencing shortage for over six months, and there is no improvement in the situation. The average shortage is around 1,000 MW. The availability of power is around 8,300 to 8,800 MW whereas the demand is 9,200 to 9,300 MW. But for the presence of a large number of windmills in the State, things would have been even worse. Wind energy contributes about 500 MW to 800 MW but with no capacity addition expected in near future, things look a bit bleak on the power front in the State. The authorities hope that when the Koodankulam atomic power plant starts production the pressure on them will ease substantially. The power crisis in Kerala has also been quite bad with failure of monsoon affecting hydro power generation tremendously. Of the anticipated energy demand of 16,600 million units during this period, the hydro stations were expected to supply 7,414 million units. The KSEB had expected to meet 44.66 per cent of the demand through the hydro stations. However, with poor rains, the estimated generation from hydro stations has come down from 44.66 to around 27 per cent. The thermal power content has gone up from the projected 55.34 to around 73 per cent. The installed capacity of the diesel power stations in Kerala is 254 MW. The cost of power from these stations averages Rs.8.79 a unit. The installed capacity of naphtha power stations in the State is 507 MW. The cost of power from these stations now average Rs.11.48 a unit. Kerala has the sources to meet its energy demand but that comes at a heavy price. Andhra Pradesh scenario Andhra Pradesh faces a severe power shortage following a prolonged lull in monsoon. The Krishna and Godavari rivers and all the reservoirs are virtually empty affecting hydro power generation. The contribution to the State grid by these hydro stations has gone down from 60 million units (MU) a day around this time last year to around10 to 15 million units now. The government is able to supply only 154 MU a day to consumers in all the sectors against the demand of 200 MU a day.