India's power consumption grows 24.35 per cent in March

NEW DELHI: Power consumption in the country grew 24.35 per cent in March at 123.05 billion units (BU) over the corresponding month a year ago, showing a revival in the economic activities, according to power ministry data.

Power consumption in March last year was recorded at 98.95 BU. On the other hand, the peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, during March this year remained well above the highest record of 170.16 GW in the entire March 2020 except on one day on March 29, 2021 when it was recorded at 159.81 GW.

During March this year, peak power demand touched the highest level of 186.03 GW on March 11, 2021, and recorded a growth of 9.3 per cent over 170.16 GW a year ago. The highest daily peak power demand met of 170.16 GW was recorded on March 3, 2020.

Experts are of the view that the power consumption has returned to pre-Covid levels with spurt in commercial and industrial activities and would see robust growth in coming months.

However, they cautioned that local lockdowns to curb the surge of COVID-19 positive cases may impact power consumption adversely with slump in commercial and industrial demand of electricity.

The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, 2020, to contain the spread of COVID-19. After a gap of six months, power consumption recorded a 4.6 per cent year-on-year growth in September and 11.6 per cent in October. In November 2020, the power consumption growth slowed to 3.12 per cent, mainly due to the early onset of winters.

In December, power consumption grew by 4.5 per cent while it was 4.4 per cent in January 2021. Power consumption in February this year recorded higher at 104.11 BU compared to 103.81 BU last year despite the fact that 2020 was a leap year.