The government has blamed this year’s extended monsoon for the sudden fall in power demand across the country in August-September. “In the month of October there was a decline (in power demand) because the rainfall was 35% above normal in October, 2019 resulting in reduction in demand in agriculture sector and the reduction in cooling requirement in the domestic and commercial sectors,” according to an official statement.
While the government did not cite the recent industrial slowdown as one of the causes of falling power demand, electricity consumption has been falling in these three months in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, where industrial and commercial users usually account for around 40% of electricity usage. Power demand also declined in high-industrial electricity consuming states such as Gujarat, Jharkhand and Punjab in October.
