Mercury soars, Gurgaon consumes 1.76 lakh units of power on Tuesday

The maximum temperature touched 37.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, making it one of the hottest days this month. The minimum temperature was 23 degrees, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said.

With the mercury soaring to record levels for the month of March, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam (DHBVN) said Gurgaon consumed 1.76 lakh power units on Tuesday, roughly 50,000 units more compared to the same day in 2016.

There was no respite from the heat on Wednesday with the maximum temperature touching 38.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The maximum temperature touched 37.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, making it one of the hottest days this month. The minimum temperature was 23 degrees, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said. The temperature data for the last four days show that the mercury has been steadily climbing — from 37.2 degrees Celsius on March 24 to 38.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday (March 29).

The DHBVN official said the maximum consumption in March last year was 1.5 lakh units, but it is likely to touch 2 lakh units this year.

Navin Verma, superintending engineer (SE- DHBVN), Gurgaon, said, “Electricity consumption is rising. It means people have started using air-conditioners (ACs) and coolers. There is a minor increase in electricity consumption this March-end when compared to last year. We are fully prepared to ensure uninterrupted supply. Our capacity is 1500MW and we recorded a peak summer demand last year of around 1250 MW. Residents should not worry about power cuts.”

The Haryana government is, however, under pressure from residents who have been complaining about power cuts due to tripping of lines and transmission loss. The state government on Tuesday said the DHBVN has managed to check theft and transmission loss and it would improve the supply this year.

Despite claims of uninterrupted supply, tripping of lines continues which results in three to four hour power cuts.

Ramesh Vashisth of Sector 15 said, “The average power cut is three hours in the past week. Officials said that is due to repair works in many areas.”

“We have been experiencing power cuts for three to four hours for the past six days. In winter, the supply was fine, now that summer is here, we are worried about power cuts. We wish the DHBVN does not cut supply at night at least,” said Rambir Singh of Sector 14.