Electricity consumption fell sharply in May, which is technically considered as the hottest month of the year by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Usually in this month, the authorities such as power utilities pay extra attention to meet the demands of power consumption and impose power cuts if needed.
However, in May this year, the authorities seemed to have had an easy month, serving the 71 lakh electricity consumers across the Visakhapatnam-based Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL).
According to officials, consumers might have not used ACs beyond their normal usage pattern. In May last year, domestic consumers constantly used ACs due to sultry weather conditions, but that was not observed in May this year. So, the consumption rate fell, officials feel.
Going into the details of the electricity consumption table for May, 2024, the electricity consumption (percentage) reached a maximum of 36.6% on May 1, compared to the same day in 2023. That means 92.208 million units of electricity was consumed in May 1 in 2024 against 67.482 million units in the single day in 2023. This growth was reported up to May 6. Thus, the average consumption rate in the first six days of this month was almost 25%.
Later, from May 7 onwards, consumption started falling. Till May 27 the rate was recorded at minus percent. On May 17 power consumption was reduced by a minimum of minus 15.1%. The consumption table stood at 94.511 million units of electricity on May 17 in 2023, but 80.253 million units on the same day this year. The peak demand for this month was 4811 megawatts (MW) on May 4 at 2.19 p.m.. Later, there have been no power demands so far this month.
“From May 7 to May 27 we have recorded the lowest power consumption rates in the last 21 days. Moreover, the number of new consumers this year were around 2.5 lakh. We usually record the highest power consumption in the month of May. We attribute it to the climatic conditions,” APEPDCL CMD Prudhvi Tej Immadi told The Hindu on May 28.
On the other hand, Ms. M. Sunanda, Director of Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC), Visakhapatnam, said that heatwaves and humidity levels are high during May. However, this May, the weather conditions were not too hot for most part of the month due to pre-monsoon rains and cloudy weather conditions.
“Recently, Cyclone Remal has also indirectly moderated the temperature levels over the north coastal A.P.. So, this May almost passed with pleasant weather conditions. Next is the southwest monsoon season, beginning on June 1. If the conditions are favourable, the monsoon shall normally enter A.P. on June 5 and Visakhapatnam on June 10,” Ms. Sunanda told The Hindu.
