In a sign of increasing economic activity, India's power consumption rises 11.45% in first half of October

In a sign of increased industrial and commercial activity as the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease, India's power consumption grew 11.45 per cent to 55.37 billion units (BU) in the first half of October this year.

As per the data released by the Union Ministry of Power, power consumption in the country was recorded at 49.67 BU during October 1-15 last year.

Last year, in the entire month of October, power consumption stood at 97.84 BU.

The officials in the Power Ministry attribute increased economic activities for the rising demand for electricity.

Though electricity demand declined sharply after March 25 lockdown, imposed to check the spread of Covid-19, it started going up from April 20 onwards, as the government started easing restrictions.

The Covid-19 hit power consumption severely for six months from March to August this year, said an official in the Ministry of Power.

Power consumption on a year-on-year basis declined 8.7 per cent in March, 23.2 per cent in April, 14.9 per cent in May, 10.9 per cent in June, 3.7 per cent in July and 1.7 per cent in August.

After a gap of six months, power consumption recorded a growth of 4.6 per cent in September this year at 112.43 BU from 107.51 BU in the same month last year.

Earlier this month, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh also said, "In September, our power demand was higher than September 2019. So the growth started again. Despite the fact that Covid problem lingers, the growth in our power consumption and demand has started."

Peak power demand met, the highest supply of power in the country in a day, during October 1 to 15 was recorded at 170.04 GW (recorded on October 7 and 8).

Peak power demand met for the month of October last year stood at 164.25 GW (recorded on October 14, 2019).

Peak power demand met had recorded negative growth from March to August.

“The peak demand and the energy requirement had dropped by around 23-24 per cent in the month of April 2020 compared to April 2019 due to the effect of the Covid pandemic,” Singh had said earlier.