Electricity consumption has not only increased year after year, but has also returned to pre-pandemic levels.
According to data from the Ministry of Power, India’s electricity consumption in the first week of July rose by nearly 18 per cent to 30.33 billion units (BU) from a year ago and was mainly due to the easing of lockdown restrictions and delayed monsoon in the east. – Returned to epidemic level. The power consumption during July 1-7 last year was 25.72 BU. The electricity consumption in the first week of July in 2019 was 26.63 BU. Thus, electricity consumption has not only increased year-on-year, but has also returned to pre-pandemic levels.
In July 2020, electricity consumption went up to 112.14 BU, but down from 116.48 BU in the same month of 2019 (pre-pandemic level).
Experts say that the improvement in power demand and consumption in the first week of July is mainly due to the delay in monsoon and improvement in economic activity due to easing of lockdown restrictions by the states.
He said power demand as well as consumption returned to pre-COVID levels in the first week of July, indicating a clear indication that there would be a strong recovery in the coming days.
The demand and consumption of commercial and industrial power has been affected since April this year due to the lockdown restrictions imposed by the states.
Experts say that as the number of daily COVID-19 positive cases decline across the country and states ease the lockdown, commercial and industrial demand for electricity may see a pick-up from July. The peak demand for electricity met in the first week of July (recorded on July 7, 2021) or the highest single day supply touching an all-time high of 200.57 GW.
Daily electricity consumption also touched an all-time high of 4,508 million units on July 7, 2021. In the first week of July, the peak power demand witnessed a growth of around 18 per cent as against 170.40 GW (recorded on July 2). The peak power demand for the entire month of July 2020 was also 170.40 GW.
The maximum power demand in July 2019 was recorded at 175.12 GW, showing an improvement over the pre-pandemic level.
Last year, the government imposed a lockdown on March 25 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The lockdown was eased in a phased manner, but it affected economic and commercial activities and resulted in reduced commercial and industrial demand for electricity in the country.
April 2021 saw a year-on-year growth of around 38.5 per cent in electricity consumption. The second wave of COVID-19 began in mid-April this year and impacted the recovery in commercial and industrial electricity demand as states began imposing restrictions in the latter part of the month.
Despite the low base of 102.08 BU in the same month of 2020, the electricity consumption in the country stood at 108.80 BU with an annual growth of 6.6 per cent in May. According to the latest data, electricity consumption in June grew by almost 9 per cent. 114.35 BU as compared to 105.08 BU in the same month last year.
Electricity consumption in February this year was recorded at 103.25 BU as compared to 103.81 BU a year ago.
In March this year, electricity consumption increased by almost 22 per cent to 120.63 BU as compared to 98.95 BU in the same month of 2020. After a gap of six months, a year-on-year growth of 4.6 per cent was registered in the consumption of electricity in September 2020. and 11.6 per cent in October 2020.
In November, electricity consumption growth slowed to 3.12 per cent, mainly due to the onset of winter. It rose 4.5 percent in December, while it was higher by 4.4 percent in January 2021.
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