Power demand peaks at 6,000 MW in Delhi as mercury rises, outage in many areas

Several areas across Delhi faced power outages ranging from one to six hours. Sweating it out in the heat with no electricity to cool them down, scores of residents took to social media to vent their anger.

Large parts of the Capital faced power cuts on Tuesday after the peak electricity demand crossed the 6,000 MW mark for the first time this year.

Delhi and north India is reeling through a severe heatwave. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

Several areas across Delhi faced power outages ranging from one to six hours. Sweating it out in the heat with no electricity to cool them down, scores of residents took to social media to vent their anger.

Uttam Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Chhattarpur, new Ashok Nagar, Pachim Vihar, Karol Bagh and Karkardooma were some of the at least 150 areas that faced power cuts on Tuesday. Some of these areas faced outages of up to five hours or more.

Even some posh south Delhi colonies like South Extension, Defence Colony, Nizamuddin, Vasant Vihar, East of Kailash and Jungpura too were affected. “Power went off around midnight and it did not come for the next two hours. It’s so hot that none of us, including our five-month-old baby, could sleep,” said Rajiv Taneja, a resident of Jungpura.

“We have made arrangements for nearly 6,600 MW of power. Although the demand is unlikely to go beyond this, the early spike in demand has put us on alert,” said a discom official.

“Towards the end of June and in July, humidity ranges between 90% and 50%. People use more ACs and for longer duration because of which power demand reaches its peak.”

While officials of power utilities maintained that there was no deficit in electricity supply, they attributed the outages to local faults. Last year power minister Satyendar Jain had made it mandatory for discoms to release a daily list of areas facing unscheduled power cuts. But this time, the records are not being made public.