It is believed that a total for 17 states in the country will face power shortages this year affecting business and consumers alike.

Officials have said that 17 states are likely to face significant power supply shortages this financial year and states in the south are likely to be worse affected. Tamil Nadu is expected to receive less than three-fourth of its total electricity demand this financial year. The worst affected would be the three Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

The situation is the same in the national capital as a study by Assocham has found that unscheduled power supply in Delhi-NCR is expected to impact small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in the area. Assocham said that power cuts will force industrial units in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad to cur production by up to 40 to 45 per cent mainly in the manufacturing units.

Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data shows that Southern region, which includes Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and union territory Puducherry, will record a shortfall of 19.1 percent in 2013-14.