Power consumption declined to 105.08 BU in June 2020, mainly due to low economic activity amid COVID-induced restrictions.
According to power ministry data, power consumption in the country increased by nearly 10 percent to 115,390,000 units (BU) in June as compared to a year ago but is still lower than the pre-covid level.
Power consumption declined to 105.08 BU in June 2020, mainly due to low economic activity amid COVID-induced restrictions. Despite the improvement, power consumption in June 2021 is still lower than June 2019 (pre-covid level), when it was at 117.98 BU. Power consumption on a month-on-month basis rose 4.7 percent in June as compared to 110.17 BU in May this year.
Experts believe that the recovery in power demand and consumption in June this year has not been as slow as expected in the second half of the month given the forecast for the onset of monsoon.
He said the recovery in power consumption and demand would have been even slower having the monsoon covered the entire country before the normal schedule as per the weather forecast. He expressed confidence that along with power consumption, demand will show rapid recovery and is expected to achieve pre-covid levels from July onwards.
Demand and consumption of commercial and industrial power were also affected due to lockdown restrictions imposed by states to prevent the deadly virus amid a furious second wave after April this year.
Experts believe that since the number of daily COVID-19 positive cases across the country has declined and states have relaxed lockdown restrictions, commercial and industrial demand for power is bound to see an increase after July.
Peak power demand was met in a day or the highest supply was seen at 191.51 GW (recorded on June 30) in June as compared to 164.98 GW in June 2020. The peak demand for electricity in the same month in 2019 was 182.45 GW.
Former Union Energy Secretary S N Sahai tweeted on Wednesday: Today (June 30) All India Peak Demand touched an all-time high of 191,243 MW at 12:46 pm as compared to an earlier high of 189,644 MW on January 31, 2021. Yesterday, the All India Energy Meeting (Peak Power Demand Completed) also crossed the previous high of 41.61 MU on 8th April 2021 to an all-time high of 43.03 million units (on 29th June 2021).
As per the latest data, power consumption on June 30, 2021, was recorded at 4,384 million units (MU), an all-time high daily power consumption in the country.
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