Delhi consumed more power than Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai

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NEW DELHI: Hot and humid weather pushed Delhi’s power demand at fresh peak. The power demand in Delhi cross all records on Tuesday. Delhi electricity distribution company (discom) BSES said that the maximum load reached 7,016 MW at 3.26 p.m. on Tuesday. Peak power is the maximum amount of electricity that is used on a given day.

The average power requirement of Chennai is 1,500-1,800 MW, Mumbai is 3,700 MW and Kolkata is 2,100 MW. The government said electricity consumption in Delhi has grown by almost 42% between 2006-07 and 2017-18. Peak power demand in 2018 has crossed last year’s peak of 6,526 MW 11 times this year, discom BSES said in a statement. “

The power demand in BRPL areas of south and west Delhi on Tuesday clocked 3,081 MW and 1,561 MW in BSES Yamuna Power Ltd.’s (BYPL) area of central and east Delhi.

“Peak demand has grown by staggering 64% between 2006-07 and 2017-18. On an average, an electrified household in Delhi consumed about 260 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity monthly in 2016-17, which is almost three times the national figure of 90 kWh,” an official of the power department said citing a CSE report, which has been endorsed by the Delhi government.

Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain had said: “We have enough backhand arrangements to meet the power demand that is expected to soar up to a historic 7,000 MW level”. In the last 10 years, the record for peak power demand was set in July six times, three times in June and once in August.

The Delhi government said that though there were reports of power outages in some parts of the city, no major distribution or transmission issues were recorded.

“Residents of areas such as Uttam Nagar and Ashok Vihar are facing problems because the electricity load has increased substantially there. Power utilities are not finding space to even put mobile transformers. But, we will are looking for other ways,” said principal secretary (power) Varsha Joshi.

Other areas that faced intermittent power cuts include Madapur Khadar, Burari, Patparganj, Uttam Nagar and Deoli. Keeping up with the soaring power supply, however, has not been easy for the Delhi government, which has been raising the issue of coal shortage at thermal power plants over the past two months.