India’s power consumption grew 0.88% in February at 104.73 billion units (BU) due to a slight rise in temperature in the month, official data showed. Power consumption in February 2020 was 103.81 BU, according to the power ministry data. However, the peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, recorded a growth of 6.7% at 188.15 GW in February 2021 compared to 176.38 GW in February 2020. After a gap of six months, power consumption recorded a 4.5% year-on-year growth in September and 11.6% in October. In November 2020, the power consumption growth slowed to 3.12%, mainly due to the early onset of winters. In December, power consumption grew by 4.5% while it was 4.8% in January 2021.
Experts said that the indication of early onset of summer this time with slightly hotter weather in February than normal in the month led to meagre growth in power consumption. They are optimistic that with complete easing of lockdown in all parts of the country and with onset of summers, the power consumption would record a robust growth in coming months. However, the peak power demand met is growing steadily. It has grown at nearly 11% in January. The rising peak power demand met indicates revival in economic activities, leading to higher commercial and industrial demand, which was affected due to the pandemic.
The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, 2020, to contain the spread of COVID-19. Power demand started declining from April as economic activities were disrupted due to the pandemic. It affected power demand for five months in a row from April to August 2020. The demand recovered from September onwards. Peak power demand met grew at 1.7% in September, 3.4% in October, 3.5% in November and 7.2% in December.
