Power demand at new high, but dip in outages
30 Jun 2009, TNN

NEW DELHI: Despite light rain in many parts of the city, Delhi's power demand headed north on Tuesday. According to Delhi Transco officials, Tuesday
saw a new all-time high demand of 4,337 MW. Sources said increasing humidity level has led to a consistent and soaring electricity demand. Though Delhi Transco reported there was no loadshedding in the city, parts of Delhi faced an hour or two power cuts.

Top experts from the power department said the city is seeing the highest increase in power in ages and this is largely due to a change in consumption pattern. "Normally power demand increases by 8%, but this year the figure is almost 20% as compared to the previous year's peak demand. The department and discoms were clearly not expecting such a high increase,'' said a top official.

Experts said till last year, consumers were using air-conditioners only at certain times of the day but this year people have been using AC round-the-clock. "Due to large number of ACs running for longer hours, the city has witnessed a steep increase in the demand. In just six days, from June 24 to June 30, power demand in Delhi increased by 3.8% and the capital has become the second highest power consuming state in north India after UP (around 7000 MW),'' said a discom official.

Most parts of the city went without the usual trauma of power cuts on Tuesday. Experts claimed discoms were able to meet the high demand due to the extra power they got from the Centre and by heavily drawing from the grid, to the tune of 400 MW, during peak hours. "Now that the monsoon has arrived in Delhi, discoms must be very relieved. Last week, we saw no electricity for eight to 10 hours in total. This morning, there was an hour's loadshedding but we are not complaining,'' said Suchitra Jairaj, a resident of Vikaspuri. Colonies like South Extension, Gulmohar Park, Jungpura, Lajpat Nagar, Safdarjung, Kalkaji, Rohini, Patparganj, Preet Vihar went without power cuts for most parts of the day.

Experts said that a lot is still left to be done and discoms need to improve their infrastructure. "Local faults are very common in the rainy season so infrastructure needs to be upgraded. If discoms do not pay attention to this, then we will see more power cuts this monsoon due to high moisture level on the transmission lines,'' said a power department official.