Delhi’s electricity demand hit an all-time high on Monday, breaking all records since 1905 as peak supply touched 7,241 megawatts. The Delhi government and power utilities said the power demand is expected to go up to 7,400MW this summer as humidity levels have remained constantly high resulting in days and nights being sultry. The power demand record has now been breached for the second time in two years, with the previous high set in July last year.

Gauging the surge in peak demand, the three largest power distribution companies in Delhi on Monday said they are prepared to meet the demand and that power-purchase agreements (PPAs) have already been made with other states in case the load increases further. Demand hit the all-time peak in the national capital at 3.29pm. It broke the previous record of 7,016MW on July 10 last year, government records stated. No major electricity disruptions were reported, officials in the power department said.

Discoms said the humidity levels had resulted in the extensive use of air-conditioners which they said is the main cause of the increase in Delhi’s power load.

“According to estimates, almost around 50% of Delhi’s power demand in summers is because of the cooling load involving air-conditioners, coolers and fans,” a BSES spokesperson said.

Explaining the surge, a discom official said Delhi’s power demand had crossed the 6,000MW for the first time in 2016 (6216 MW, on July 1 that year). “In June 2019 alone, Delhi’s peak power demand crossed 6,000 MW on 24 days. The fact that the city’s power demand is consistently crossing that mark shows the robustness of the capital’s distribution and transmission system, which has been able to measure up,” the spokesperson said.

The BSES said arrangements have been made by its discoms to source adequate electricity to meet the demand of over 42 lakh consumers in its areas. These arrangements include long term PPAs and banking arrangements with states including Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Manipur and Sikkim, the company said.

“We have made adequate arrangements of up to 2,500MW, along with contingency planning through long-term tie-ups and power banking arrangements, and upgraded network to ensure regular supply,” said Sanjay Banga, CEO of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL).

For Monday’s demand, the TPDDL said it successfully met the record peak demand of 2,014MW in its areas without any network constraint and power outage. The BSES discoms — BRPL and BYPL claimed they “successfully” met the all-time high peak power demands of 3,132MW and 1,629MW in their respective areas. Last year, peak power demand had clocked 3,081MW and 1,561MW in the respective areas, the BSES spokesperson said.

The TPDDL expects power demand in areas of north and north-west Delhi where it supplies power, to cross the 2,250-MW mark.

Delhi’s peak power demand is more than the power demand of Mumbai and Chennai put together, and thrice that of Kolkata, the discom spokesperson said.

First Published: Jul 02, 2019 04:07 IST