Power demand touches all-time high of 185.82 GW, says Secretary S N Sahai

NEW DELHI: All-India power demand on Wednesday morning touched a record high of 185.82 gigawatts (GW), said Power Secretary S N Sahai.

"Power demand continues to surge. Yet another record - all India demand : 185.82 GW ie 185, 822 MW at 09:35hrs today ie 20/01/21. It has crossed previous all India demand of 182.89 GW i.e. 182, 888 MW on 30th December, 2020", Sahai said in a tweet.

On December 30, 2020, all-India power demand had touched 182.89 GW. According to data from the power ministry, the peak power demand met (the highest supply in a day) during January last year stood at 170.97 GW.

The rising power demand shows perk up in economic activities leading to higher commercial and industrial demand which was affected due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19. Peak power demand met recorded negative growth from April to August last year, due to the pandemic.

Power demand started declining from April as economic activities were disrupted in the country due to COVID-19.

The pandemic had affected power demand for five months in a row from April to August 2020. The power demand recovered from September 2020 onwards. Peak power demand met grew at 1.7 per cent in September, 3.4 per cent in October, 3.5 per cent in November and 7.3 per cent in December.