Delhi’s peak power demand hit a record 5,798 megawatts (MW) at 10.20 am on Friday, as the national Capital experienced ‘cold day’ with the maximum temperature dropping to 14.2 degree Celsius, five notches below the normal while the minimum temperature settled at 7.1 degree Celsius,  one notch below the normal. The dense layer of fog kept visibility poor in several parts of the city since Thursday evening.  The maximum temperatures in Gurugram and Faridabad was recorded 11.7 degree Celsius and 10.6 degree Celsius respectively.  The drop in the maximum temperature has led to cold wave type conditions in Delhi and NCR.

Visibility dropped to 400m at Palam around 10pm on Thursday, dropping further to 25m at 11.30pm; visibility dropped to 200m at Safdarjung around the same time. Dense fog conditions prevailed in parts of the city with the Palam Observatory near the Indira Gandhi International Airport recording a visibility level of 50 metres at 5:30 am.

According to real-time data released by the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) Delhi, it was the third time this month that the peak demand crossed the 5,700 MW mark – 5,726 MW on January 17 and 5,701 MW on January 12.The discoms had estimated the peak demand this winter to reach 5,760 MW.A Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) spokesperson said the discom met the highest winter peak power demand reaching 1,779.04 MW in its area in north Delhi without any network constraints or power outage. The company is expecting the peak demand to breach 1,800 MW this winter, she said. On their part, the BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and the BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) successfully met the peak power demand of 2,502 MW and 1,215 MW respectively.