Peak Power Demand Continues Fall, Down 28% Since March 20

Peak power demand in the country dipped over 28% to 117.76 GW on Saturday – March 28, as compared to 163.72 GW on March 20

Peak power demand in the country dipped over 28 percent to 117.76 gigawatts (GW) on Saturday – March 28, 2020, as compared to 163.72 GW on March 20, showing the impact of nationwide lockdown amid COVID-19 outbreak. National Load Dispatch Centre data showed that in actual terms, the peak power demand met has come down by about 46 GW since March 20, 2020, which would further aggravate the ailing electricity generators whose outstanding dues stand Rs 88,311 crore as of January this year.

The peak power demand met is the actual highest energy supply during the day across the country.

The peak demand met was down mainly due to lower demand from industry and state power distribution companies (Discoms) across the country due to the lockdown to fight against COVID-19. According to the NLDC data, the peak demand met was 163.72 GW on March 20, which came down to 161.74 GW on March 21. This dropped sharply to 135.20 GW on March 22 due to a call for ‘Janata Curfew’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The data also showed that the peak demand met improved slightly to 145.49 GW on Monday (March 23) but fell again to 135.93 GW on Tuesday (March 24) and subsequently to 127.96 GW on Wednesday (March 25). The power demand met further fell sharply to 120.31 GW on Thursday (March 26) and to 115.23 GW on Friday (March 27), indicating a continuous slump in demand.

However, there was little improvement on Saturday (March 28) as the peak demand met rose slightly to 117.76 GW.

In view of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has imposed a lockdown for 21-days earlier this week.

Earlier we had reported that the lockdown had caused the pot power price of electricity to drop to a three-year low of 60 paise (60p). According to data from the IEX, the previous low of minimum spot electricity price was recorded at 52 paise per unit in 2017 which rose to Rs 1.72 per unit in 2018 and then dipped to 94 paise in 2019 before touching a three-year low of 60 paise in 2020 for supply on Wednesday (March 25, 2020).