The commissioning of additional pulping capacity at the Bhadrachalam Paperboard Unit and the opening of ITC Hotel Sonar Bangla have increased ITC’s total energy consumption by 7.81% over that of the previous year.

ITC Units consumed a total of 11439 Terra Joules (TJ) of energy in 2003–04.

As in the previous years only a small fraction (3%) of ITC’s energy requirement was obtained from indirect sources (grid electricity) and the remaining continued to be produced through captive generation.

ITC Businesses are acutely aware of the constantly increasing cost of this energy consumption.

ITC Units regularly review, globally benchmark and appropriately modernise their energy management practices and technologies. ITC Units also undertake regular energy audits.

The Specialty Paper Mill at Tribeni in West Bengal, the Green Leaf Threshing plants at Anaparti and Chirala in Andhra Pradesh, the Cigarette Factory at Saharanpur in U.P. and the Packaging & Printing Units at Tiruvottiyur near Chennai made significant savings in specific energy consumption (energy per unit of production) during 2003–04.

Over the years specific energy usage at the Bhadrachalam Paperboards Unit has shown substantial reduction, making this Unit one of the most energy-efficient paperboard producers internationally.

However, during 03–04, the increase in the pulping capacity led to a 12% increase in specific energy consumption at Bhadrachalam. The specific energy consumption now stands at 36.1 Giga Joules (GJ) per tonne of paperboard, comparable with the best in the world. (The International Benchmark for structurally similar mills is 32.00 to 40.93 GJ per tonne of paper).