Indore: With the mercury shooting up and demand of electricity growing, Indore is beating the heat blasting houses and offices with air-conditioners which are claiming more than 20 per cent of the total power consumption here. The total power consumption in the city has reached to all time high figure of 510 MW. “The unprecedented rise in power consumption is due to rise in temperature and use of air cooling electrical appliances, especially air-conditioners,” said Vikas Narwal, managing director of MP Western Region Electricity Distribution Company.
As per a survey by discom, nearly 2.75 lakh air-conditioners are being used in Indore, the highest in any city of Madhya Pradesh. The discom said that even a five-star rating AC consumes 8 units of electricity in a day. If that is multiplied by 2.75 lakh air-conditioners, the total consumption of ACs reaches to 22 lakh units. “The total consumption of electricity in the city is 1.08 cr units. That means air-conditioners alone are consuming more than 20 per cent of electricity demand,” discom said.
Other major power consuming items include water pump motors, factories, coolers, lights, refrigerators etc. “Following the increased demand for power, we are installing additional transformers. Besides, we doing load balancing-diversion to meet the increased,” Narwal said adding that a team of 80 engineers have been pressed for monitoring power supply. Narwal has directed engineers to ensure that increased demand of electricity does not affect power supply.
25000 air-conditioners sold in one year
A survey by discom last year had revealed that the total number of air-conditioners in the city was 2.5 lakh. The number increased by 25000 when finding of this year’s survey came out. That means nearly 25000 air-conditioners were purchased in last one year. “As per information from the market, sale of air-conditioners has increased with summer setting in. Nearly 600 units are sold every day now,” said Awadhesh Sharma, publicity officer of discom.