Demand for power in country increasing since August this year: Govt

New Delhi: The Union Power Ministry has said that the demand for power in the country has been increasing from August this year onwards. It said, in August this year, the power consumption was 124 Billion units whereas the consumption in August 2019 before the COVID period was 106 Billion units. 

This was an increase of almost 18 to 20 per cent. The increasing trend is persisting. The demand on the 4th of this month was 1 lakh 74 thousand MegaWatt which is 15 thousand MegaWatt more than on the corresponding day in the previous year.

The Power Ministry said, the increase in demand is a positive sign and it indicates that the economy is growing. 

The Ministry said, it is also because more than 28 million homes were connected to electricity under the SAUBHAGYA Programme and all these new consumers are buying appliances like fans, coolers, TVs etc.

It said, there was continuous rain in the coal bearing areas in August and last month leading to lower despatch from coal mines in this period. However, the despatches have



picked-up again.  On Monday, the total number of rakes dispatched was 263 which is 15 rakes more than the rakes dispatched on the last Sunday. It is expected that the despatches from coal lines will increase further.

The average stock of coal in power plants was for about four days last Sunday. However, this is a rolling stock, the coal is dispatched through rakes every day from the coal mines to thermal power plants.

In order to manage the coal stock and ensure equitable distribution of coal, the Ministry of Power constituted a Core Management Team on 27th August this year comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Central Electricity Authority, Power System Operation Corporation Limited, Railways and Coal India Limited to ensure daily monitoring of the coal stocks and despatches. 

The Core Management Team is closely monitoring and managing the coal stocks on a daily basis and ensuring follow up actions with Coal India and Railways to improve the coal supply to power plants.