The Capital consumed 6,044 MW of electricity on Thursday, breaching the 6,000-mark for the first time and becoming one of the biggest power consumers in India.
As compared to last year, the demand has risen by over 20 per cent.
Data from the State Load Despatch Centre showed that the maximum power load of 6,044 MW was recorded at 3:36 p.m. Earlier, at 2.34 p.m., the demand had touched 6,011 MW. Last year, it was 5,125 MW during the same period.
Disturbing trend
This trend indicates that Delhi is emerging as one of the leading power guzzlers in the country. “Delhi’s peak power demand is more than the combined demand of cities like Mumbai (3,700 MW) and Kolkata (2,100 MW). Chennai has a demand of around 2,000 MW, but Delhi’s is more than double of that,” said Praveer Sinha, Managing Director, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL).
Delhi also beats the power demand of Bihar, which has a population of about 10 crore. “Despite having lesser population, the Capital consumes two-and-a-half times more power than Bihar, which consumes about 2,750 MW of electricity,” said Mr Sinha.
Also, the Capital consumes nearly two-and-a half times the power drawn by the seven North-Eastern States put together (around 2,500 MW), and almost one-and-a-half times the peak power demand of Orissa (around 3.990 MW).
Delhi’s highest power consumption earlier was 5,925 MW on July 11, 2014. While experts attributed the high demand to the heat and sound per capita income, authorities on Thursday urged residents to stop using non-important power guzzling appliances during peak hours.
Discoms in the city, meanwhile, had to take to load-shedding due to the high demand. Consequently, outages ranging from one to five hours were seen across the city.
Further, due to a snag in the Delhi Transco Limited’s Bamnauli-Pappakalan 220 KV transmission line, power supply in parts of West Delhi, including Dwarka and Uttam Nagar, was impacted. Other areas that suffered outages include Dakshinpuri, Khajuri Khas, Sangam Vihar, Najafgarh, Nizamuddin, parts of South and East Delhi, among others.
Officials said that the demand may go up further in July when coolers will become ineffective and air-conditioners will run across houses and establishments.
The demand is expected to go up further in July
when coolers become ineffective
