"The maximum power demand was recorded at 4,823 MW against yesterday's 4,688 MW," a power department official said.
The previous highest power demand was recorded on May 22 when it had touched 4,717 MW. The power demand in the city had reached an all-time high of 5,028 MW last summer and it is projected to reach 5,500 MW this year.
With mercury soaring 43.1 degree Celsius, the highest of the season, the outages ranging from one to four hours made life miserable for people across the city. Areas in East and West Delhi were most affected by the outages.
"There was no power in our area for four hours," Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of Burari area, said.
While power distribution company BSES Yamuna Power Ltd reported highest ever power demand of 1,250 MW in its area, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd said power demand in its area touched the season's highest of 1,880 MW today.
Power department officials claimed the gap between demand and supply was not "very wide" and the outages primarily took place due to local faults triggered by increase in load factor on the transmission lines.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit yesterday had strictly told private discoms to ensure uninterrupted power supply and cautioned them that load-shedding due to faulty transmission network will not be tolerated.
Concerned over long outages, Dikshit asked the discoms to make their grievance redressal mechanism function efficiently and effectively round-the-clock.
The discoms were told to submit reports on the power situation to the government on a daily basis. Power Secretary Shakti Sinha has been instructed to closely monitor the situation.
