Despite winter chill, power demand in Telangana remains high, surpasses 257 MU

With possibilities of the demand further picking up in March-April, the government has taken a number of steps to ensure that the growing demand was met, the officials said, adding that the power utilities were successfully able to meet the power demand of the season without any network constraints or power outages.

Hyderabad: The power consumption of the State has remained elevated over the last one week even during the winter chill, keeping it above 250 million units. On Thursday, the power consumption in the State stood at 257.569 million units and the peak demand went up to 13,976 megawatt.

In the last one week, the power consumption in the State has been staying above 250 MU, whereas it was about 217 MU during the same period last year. The power consumption on December 20 stood at 257.977 MU, whereas it was 257.63 MU on December 21. Similarly, it was 249.144 MU on December 22 and 256.847 MU on December 23. On December 24 the power consumption touched 257.569 MU.

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The State government has asked power distribution companies (DISCOMs) to take measures to meet the demand and maintain the supply across the State. With a daily increase of 40 MUs, the purchase of power from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) has increased. The State’s maximum electricity demand on December 20 stood at 14.009 MW, whereas it was 12,126 MW on the same day last year.

Since there is shortage of water for irrigation purposes due to less water available in various reservoirs, especially those on the Krishna River, farmers are using borewells to supply water to the crops, resulting in an increase in power demand. There are about 29 lakh agricultural borewell connections in the State.

In Greater Hyderabad limits, the demand has increased by an additional 200 MW during the last one week. DISCOMs estimate that the demand was increasing due to industrial and domestic consumption in the city and the ongoing Rabi season.

Under the Griha Jyothi scheme, the government was supplying free electricity up to 200 units per month to around 50 lakh poor households and in these households the power consumption had witnessed an increase in the last few days, officials said.

With possibilities of the demand further picking up in March-April, the government has taken a number of steps to ensure that the growing demand was met, the officials said, adding that the power utilities were successfully able to meet the power demand of the season without any network constraints or power outages.