Mercury soars in Oct in Maharashtra, power demand hits record 24,962 Mw

Increase in mercury levels in October led to a rise in power demand in Maharashtra, which shot up to record 24,962 MW on Monday, an official said.

In Maharashtra (except Mumbai), the demand for power was 21,580 MW in areas covered by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL), also known as Mahavitaran.

The power demand in Mumbai was 3,382 MW.

While the island city of Mumbai gets power supply from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST), its suburbs get electricity either from Tata Power or Adani Transmission.

An official from the state power department said due to the October heat, demand for electricity was continuously rising.

"More electricity demand is being registered in October than in summer. On October 16, the total demand was 24,922 MW, of which Mahavitaran registered demand of 21,542 MW. On October 17, the total demand was 24,687 MW, of which Mahavitaran registered of 21,223 MW demand," he said.

"On October 22, the demand shot up to 24,962 MW. This is a very high demand. On the same day, for the rest of Maharashtra, except Mumbai, the demand for electricity was 21,580 MW. Due to this sudden rise in demand, the MSEDCL was able to supply 20,630 MW of power through proper planning," he said.

Load shedding of 950 MW electricity was carried out in areas which cause most of the power loss in the state and where the recovery of electricity payments is very low, the official informed.