All-India power demand breaches another record, settles at 189.64 GW

• In January, the all-India power demand has breached new records quite a few times over the past few days

• The demand and supply of power in January (up to January 19) has grown by 8 percent as compared to the corresponding period of the last year

New Delhi: Strongly signalling a continuity in the revival of economic activities, all-India power demand has breached yet another record on Saturday as it settled at an all-time high of 189.64 GW. Sharing the news on Twitter, Power Secretary Sanjiv Sahai said on Saturday, "Power demand galloping. All India demand: 189644 MW (189.64 GW) at 10.39 hrs today crossed the previous highest all India demand of188452 MW (188.45 GW) on 28th January." 

Demand for power in January has shown highest-ever growth rate of 8%

In January, the all-India power demand has breached new records quite a few times over the past few days as it settled at 188.45 GW on January 28, 187.30 GW on January 22 and 185.82 GW on January 20.

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The demand and supply of power in January (up to January 19) has grown by 8 percent as compared to the corresponding period of the last year. Commenting on the previous record-high demand of 185.82 GW on January 20, Power Minister RK Singh had said, "This is the highest rate of growth ever.  The surging demand for power is a certain indicator that our economy is getting back on track." Increase in electricity consumption is considered to be a reliable indicator of increase in economic/industrial activity.

The backdrop

The nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Coronavirus had caused a sharp drop in demand for power as industrial activity had come to a standstill. Between April-August 2020, peak power demand had registered a negative growth. However, a recovery was seen September 2020 onwards as peak power demand rose by 1.7 percent, to 3.4 percent in October, 3.5 percent in November and 7.3 percent in December 2020. Rise in power demand is one of the factors that denotes rise in industrial activity in an economy, which is why it is being seen as a sign of economic revival post the COVID-19 pandemic.

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