Rain brings relief for PSPCL, power demand takes sharp dip

Rain brings relief for PSPCL, power demand takes sharp dip

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ May 30,2026

A severe  thunderstorm and rain in Punjab the  power demand dipped to record low of 4721  MW on Saturday Morning giving much needed relief to the PSPCL  before the start of paddy season on June 1 and the people of state from the heat wave.

The power demand which  was at 8650 MW at 8.30 hours continued to slide and reached a low of 4721 9 MW by  noon.

Punjab’s own thermal units and private thermal units in state were running at half load. The thermal generation was 1350 MW, private generation at 1624 MW and solar generation at 157 MW in the state. At one time the Punjab was under drawing 3752 MW from its schedule of over 7500 MW.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday revised its seasonal rainfall forecast downward from 92% of the long-period average  to 90% with a 60% probability of a deficient season.

During the first heatwave the maximum demand in Punjab crossed 14000 Mw and during the second heat wave days it remained between 13600 MW to 13800 MW. Last week the daily power supply was between 2592 LU to 2782 LU.

A favourable weather  during this period may give relief to PSPCL for next  few days relief from increase in power demand with the start of the first phase of paddy supply from June 1. The energy-intensive paddy transplantation season drives a massive chunk of summer power demand as agricultural tubewells run for extended hours.  The proliferation of cooling appliances and urban expansion significantly strains the grid. Rising domestic and agricultural connected loads are heavily influenced by the state government’s subsidized and free power schemes.

The demand in adjoining states of Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh at noon was 9000 MW, 1600 MW and 230 MW.