Peak power demand in Capital drops by 15%

NEW DELHI: In a first in 11 years, the peak electricity demand in Delhi has seen a decline of around 15% (1,095 MW) compared to the previous year, data provided by power utilities showed on Monday. The city’s peak electricity consumption this summer has been lowest since 2017 because of the lockdown and also the weather, senior government and discom officials said.

This year, the peak power demand met by distribution companies (discoms) so far has been 6,314 MW, recorded on June 29. Going by the trend over the past 11 years, Delhi’s power demand is unlikely to peak any further this year, officials in the state power department said.

“If we analyse Delhi’s peak power demand since 2009, we will see that it has peaked 8 times in the month of July, 4 times in June (including this year) and once in August (August 2, 2011). So, we can say that Delhi, in all likelihood, has passed its peak demand for this year, contrary to initial projection of it crossing the 7,000 MW mark again this time,” said a senior power official who did not wish to be named.

Delhi’s all-time high peak power demand was registered on July 2 last year, when it had clocked 7,409 MW - an increase of over 250% from the peak of 2,879 MW recorded in 2002.

Government data accessed by HT showed that Delhi, on an average, has seen a year-onyear growth of 5% in its peak electricity demand over a period of 10 years. This means that the city’s peak demand used to increase by at least 5% compared to previous year’s value.