Maharashtra’s electricity consumption — a key barometer of economic activity — dropped 13 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2020, a government report stated.
According to the report, the state’s total power use was 32301.53 mega units in the January-August period down by 13 per cent over the consumption during the corresponding period last year.
The report, which was part of an exercise by the finance department to analyse the state’s macroeconomic outlook in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, was presented to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior cabinet ministers earlier this week.
Worryingly, for policymakers, it shows that electricity use by commercial and business establishments has not witnessed a notable pick up even after lockdown restrictions were eased.
