April power consumption falls marginally

CHENNAI :  India’s power consumption data for April already shows signs of an impact caused by the second Covid-19 wave, which began accelerating to record proportions in the second half of the month. While the low base of April last year-the month which saw the strictest nationwide lockdown imposed so far-has helped show a 41 per cent year-on-year growth in power consumption for April at 119.27 billion units (BU), the figure is lower than the 121.51 BU in March.

Analysts note that the high growth is primarily due to the largescale dip recorded in April last year, when consumption crashed to 84.55 BU from 98.95 BU in March 2020. March 2020’s figure had also been lower than February 2020’s 103.81 BU, as the toll of the local movement restrictions late March began to hit industrial consumption, which eventually dived after the nationwide lockdown imposed for April 2020.

Consumption had since recovered to the point where peak power demand met during the first week of April 2021, the highest supply recorded in a day, hit an all-time high of 182.55 GW. However, the local lockdowns across states to contain the second wave is set to impact commercial and industrial power consumption adversely going forward, cautioned analysts.