Power demand sees fourth straight month of fall, declines 4.28% in Nov

Power demand in the country dipped for the fourth straight month by 4.28 per cent to 94.6 billion units (BU) in November, mainly due to weather shift.

According to data from the Central Electricity Authority, the demand had stood at 98.84 BU in November 2018.

"Power demand is down mainly because of early onset of winters and extended monsoon this year. Last year, air conditioners were used till early December. That is not the case this year," a senior power ministry official told PTI.

According to the data, the power demand shrank 12.94 per cent to 98.36 BU in October this year compared to the year-ago month. The demand in October 2018 had stood at 112.98 BU.

The demand started declining from August this year when it fell 0.53 per cent to 112.1 BU in the month compared to 112.71 BU a year ago. Before that, the power demand grew 6.72 per cent in July this year to 117.22 BU, against 109.83 BU in the year-ago month.

The data showed that during April-July this fiscal, the power demand grew 7.2 per cent to 467.02 BU compared to 435.64 BU in the corresponding period a year ago.

However, during April-November 2019, power demand rose 1.21 per cent to 880.35 BU, compared with 869.76 BU in the same month a year ago.

An Indian Energy Exchange official also said the fall in power demand is mainly because of weather shift and partly due to slowdown in industrial activities which is reflected in industrial production data.

The Index of Industrial Production, which captures factory output in the country, contracted by 1.4 per cent in August and 4.3 per cent in September.

There is an economic slowdown in the country as the economic growth decelerated to over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the July-September quarter this fiscal. The GDP growth deceleration continued for sixth straight quarter in July-September this fiscal since the April-June quarter last year.