Chhattisgarh Power companies’ chairman Shailendra Shukla said with a drought-like situation looming over the state due to lack of rains, power consumption has increased due to use of energised agricultural pumps by farmers leading to record demands for power.
He said the power demand of the state reached record 4760 MW, but despite that the demand was met without any acute shortage and load-shedding due to better management.
He said additional number of home users has increased while with still high temperature prevailing due to lack of rains, the use of electrical equipment has also gone up. This has led to increase in demand from consumers for various purposes, including irrigation.
Shukla said keeping in mind the prevailing conditions, a pre-planning on demand and availability was done to manage the rising demand.
The State Power Generation Companies are producing 2500 MW of power while the state is getting 2300 MW from central sector, exchange and short-term power purchase to maintain availability of 4800 MW of power. The ground officials and staff have been asked to stay on alert to face any eventuality, Shukla said.
Shukla pointed out that in 2013 the demand was 2805 MW, in 2014 it was 3016 MW, in 2015 it was 3886 MW, the demand was 3581 MW in 2016, 3921 MW in 2017 and in 2018 it was 3977 MW.