Delhi’s power consumption over last one month lowest in 11 years

Delhi was among the first cities to impose a lockdown -- it came into effect in the capital city on March 23, a day before the nationwide lockdown on March 24.

The daily average power demand in Delhi during the month-long lockdown has not only seen a 35% dip from the previous year, but it has also turned out to be a period with the lowest average electricity consumption in the capital over the past 11 years at least.

Reports prepared by the state power department revealed that Delhi had not witnessed such low electricity consumption between March 23 and April 24 in any year since 2009. (HT file photo . Representative image)

Delhi was among the first cities to impose a lockdown -- it came into effect in the capital city on March 23, a day before the nationwide lockdown on March 24.

Reports prepared by the state power department revealed that Delhi had not witnessed such low electricity consumption between March 23 and April 24 in any year since 2009. HT could access Delhi’s power consumption reports since 2009. Data prior to 2009 was not provided.

“The average power demand in the past one month has been 2,560MW, which is 35% lower than last year’s consumption during the same period. If we go back even further, the average consumption in the year 2009 was 3,156MW for the same period,” said a senior official in the power department.

At the same time, the maximum power demand has been 3,169MW which is 40% lower than last year’s peak (5,263MW) during the same period. Breaking down the data further revealed that the daytime peak demand dropped by over 40%. This implied that a major contributor to the reduction in electricity consumption was the closure of commercial and industrial establishments.

Under the lockdown, only factories manufacturing essential items are allowed to operate. Malls, offices and shops, other than those selling essential items, are shut until further orders by the state government.

“The peak electricity demand during the night has reduced by around 25%. It was expected that the percentage reduction during the night would be lower since the consumption pattern at that time otherwise remains almost the same throughout the year,” said an official of a distribution company.

Delhi has around 5.5 million domestic consumers.

Power officials said the electricity consumption pattern suggests that people had started practising restrain by staying indoors more even prior to the lockdown started.

“Malls, gyms, schools, colleges and other such institutions were shut prior to the lockdown which had an impact. Many people on their own also reduced their movement fearing they would contract Covid-19 or spread it,” the official said.

“Data suggests that Delhi’s peak power demand in March considerably declined, even before the lockdown was announced. On March 15, the national capital’s peak power demand was 3421 MW that sharply reduced by around 33% on March 22 to 2294 MW. On the same dates last year, the city’s electricity demand was 3776MW and 3095MW respectively,” the official said.