Shillong Jan 20: Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma on Monday announced that load shedding has been reduced to two hours in the state.

The Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) will decide the timing of the load shedding.

The chief minister said that the main reason that enabled the MeECL to bring down the load shedding came after finalising the discussion with different agencies.

Last week the chief minister reviewed the power scenario in the state especially load shedding for about four hours in different timings.

Meghalaya used to get electricity through power banking whereby the state supplied some amount of energy during rainy season to some states through the NTPC, and the NTPC gives back to the state during dry season.

However due to the change in the Central government policy on power banking, the state could not get power from the NTPC if the letter of credit is not opened.

The chief minister said that this issue has been solved and the MeECL has already opened the letter of credit with a payment of Rs 13.8 crore to the NTPC.

Under the power banking, Meghalaya is getting around 40 MW of electricity from the NTPC.

Earlier, the breakdown of two power projects – Palatana in Tripura and Kupli hydro electric project along the Meghalaya-Assam border has forced the MeECL to resort to power shut down for many hours.

The chief minister said that the MeECL has been paying Rs 65 lakh on a daily basis to NEEPCO in order to get power and clear the pending dues.