In Punjab, January power demand increase by 8.6 percent amid intense cold and 300 units free power
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ February 1,2024
The power demand in January in Punjab increased by 8.6 percent as compared to last year’s January supply due to intense cold waves and free 600 units of power for domestic consumers in a by-monthly billing cycle. The maximum power demand also increased by 5.5 percent in January this year as compared to last year.
The maximum power demand of the day touched a new high of 9546 MW against last January’s high of 9051 MW during corresponding period. The maximum average power demand is 8610 MW between the range of 6987 MW to 9546 MW
The power demand rose by 8.6 percent from 46158 million units in January 2023 to 50127 million units during corresponding period this year. The average power supply in January is 1590 million units.
PSPCL’s own thermal plants at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat supplied 7920 lakh units in January. The average daily thermal supply from plants in January this year is 255 lakh units and this ranged from 206 to 307 lakh units daily.
The hydro generation by PSPCL owned plants decreased by 35 % from 3067 lakh units in Jan 23 to 1925 lakh units this year. The average hydro generation from own sources was 63 lakh units. Ranjit Sagar Dam project, a 600-MW hydel unit of PSPCL has been closed for one month upto February 16 for construction works at Shahpur Kandi Dam.
PSPCL officials claimed that they successfully met the increased power demand through optimum utilisation of its resources and with minimum power cuts. The average shortage in the state during January 2024 was 27.42 lakh units .
The Punjab government has provided a subsidy of Rs. 17121 crores till January end out of budget provisions of Rs.20243 crores.
