With temperatures soaring in the city, the demand for electricity has seen a rise of 11-17% in the past few days. The city has been facing terrible heat since February, with temperatures soaring up to 40.3° C in March itself.

The heat wave is also likely to continue with the delay in monsoon next month.

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST), which supplies power in the island city has seen a 15% rise in demand in the past few days. The undertaking supplied 810MW on Wednesday instead of the average of 700MW.

In May 2018, the demand by the end of the month was around 910MW. An official from BEST, on condition of anonymity, said, “We expect the demand to peak in a similar way in the next 15 days.” BEST has 10.5 lakh consumers in the island city.

Records show that in April-May 2017, BEST was meeting a peak demand of close to 932MW.

The state discom, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Limited (MSEDCL) has recorded a 17% rise in demand these days. On Thursday, the power demand was close to 18,788MW.

It supplies 15,000-16,000MW on a normal day.

In May 2018, the highest demand recorded in the state discom’s area was 19,508MW and in May 2017, it was around 18,278MW.

The Adani Electricity Private Limited, which has the largest consumer base of 30 lakh residents in the city, has recorded an 11% rise in demand during summer. On June 1, 2017, it recorded a summer peak demand of 1,884MW and on June 2, 2018 the summer peak demand was 1,905MW.

A spokesperson from Adani Electricity said, “The demand in summer is around 1,670MW. The peak demand recorded till date is 1,851MW which is 11% higher.” The spokesperson also said that the demand is expected to rise further in the coming days.

Despite several requests, TATA Power which has seven lakh consumers in the city, did not share data on the rise in demand.

First Published: May 18, 2019 05:46 IST