Electricity demand likely to contract by 5-6% in FY21 due to lockdown: ICRA

The all-India electricity demand declined by 16.2 per cent in Q1 FY2021 on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis because of the lockdown imposed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic

With the re-imposition of lockdown restrictions in many parts of the country, the pan India electricity demand is likely to decline by 5 per cent to 6 per cent in FY2021 over FY2020, rating agency ICRA said in its latest report on power sector.

ICRA in April had estimated 1 per cent de-growth in electricity demand in the current year.

The revised energy demand de-growth estimate assumes demand decline of 3.5 per cent to 4 per cent in Q2 and Q3 FY2021 and a marginal recovery of about 1 per cent in Q4 FY2021, given the slower pace of recovery