Rains help bring down summer power demand by 600 MUs this season

Bengaluru: The overall power demand in the state dropped by 600 million units (MUs) over the three summer months due to good pre-monsoon and monsoon rainfall, despite a spike of nearly 500 MUs in March. 

The demand for electricity in the state began to increase as early as in January, and rose to 10,436 MUs in March owing to the summer heat. 

The energy department had expected it would cross 10,000 MUs in April and May, the peak summer months. 

However, it fell to 8,748 MUs in April and 7,283 MUs in May. It dropped further to 6,762 MUs in June, the first monsoon month. 

“We had started preparations to meet the increase in demand. We had held power-swapping talks with Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. However, the demand did not go up. In fact, it came down significantly,” said Gaurav Gupta, additional chief secretary, Energy department. 

During summer last year, average power demand was nearly 330 MUs a day or nearly 9,900 MUs a month. 

It was the same case in March this year, when power demand reached 10,436 MUs. 

Considering this, authorities had expected that the demand would reach 350 MUs a day or over 10,500 MUs a month. 

“But that was not the case. On many days, the demand was as low as 230 MUs a day, or nearly 100 MUs less than last year,” Gupta added. 

In the second quarter of this year, India’s power demand came down by 1.5% compared to last year, while Karnataka recorded a drop of 3.3% during the same period. 

Good pre-monsoon and monsoon showers helped bring down the demand in two ways — lower temperatures reduce use of ACs and fans, while good rains drastically reduce power demand from irrigation pumpsets. 

Good rains also improved the generation at the state’s hydro power plants, giving a much-needed break to thermal plants that had run relentlessly last year owing to lack of rains. The thermal power units will now move into the maintenance mode over the next few months. 

But due to poor rains in Bengaluru during June, power demand shot up marginally compared to last year, officials said. 

Good rains also improved the generation at the state’s hydro power plants giving a much-needed break to thermal plants that had run relentlessly last year owing to lack of rains.