Delhi’s power demand peaks at 6,780 MW: Discom officials

New Delhi: With the day temperature spiralling up with each passing day, Delhi’s power demand shot to 6,780 MW on Thursday —the highest this summer so far, discom officials said.

Realtime data from State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) showed that the peak power demand of the city was 6,780 MW at 3.26 pm on Thursday.

The highest ever peak power demand in Delhi was 7,695 MW in the summer of 2022. Last year, the highest it touched was 7,438 MW.

The distribution companies, or discoms, said Delhi’s peak power demand this summer may cross the 8,000 MW for the first time and may reach up to 8,200 MW. A BSES spokesperson said that the BRPL and BYPL discoms of the company successfully met the peak power demand in their respective areas.

The peak power demand in South and West Delhi, which had clocked 3,250 MW and 3,389 MW during the summer of 2023 and 2022 respectively, is expected to reach around 3,679 MW this summer, he said. On the other hand, in East and Central Delhi, catered to by BYPL, the peak power demand, which had reached 1,752 MW and 1,670 MW during the summer of 2022 and 2023, is expected to touch around 1,857 MW this year, he added.

The high power demand can be attributed to weather conditions that led residents to use more air conditioning equipments leading to an increase in electricity consumption. The discom officials said air conditioning can contribute to 30-50 per cent of a domestic or commercial establishment’s yearly energy expense.

It is worth noting that on each day of May so far, Delhi’s peak power demand is more than that of May 2023.