Electricity output sees marginal growth of 1.3% in Apr-Jun due to unseasonal rains: Govt data

The country's electricity output witnessed a marginal growth of 1.3% in April-June quarter of 2023, compared to 17.1% in the same period a year-ago, mainly due to unseasonal rains, government data shows. According to the latest Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, a measure for factory output, electricity output contracted by 1.6% in March and 1.1% in April this year.

The electricity output remained almost flat and saw a growth rate of 0.9% in May and improved marginally to 4.2% in June this year. The data showed that the electricity output growth remained low at 1.3%  in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, compared to 17.1% a year ago.

Industry experts said electricity output, demand and consumption were affected due to unseasonal rains, which led to fewer usage of cooling appliances like air conditioners.The data showed that the electricity output growth was robust at 12.7%  in January and 8.2 per cent in February this year.

The Ministry of Power had estimated 229GW of peak power demand during the summers this year. But the data showed that peak power demand remained at 224.10GW in April-July 2023.The ministry took many steps and asked imported coal-based plants to run at 100% capacity as well as directed domestic coal-based plants to import coal for blending to ensure adequate power supply in the country.

The industry experts are of the view that the electricity output growth would improve July onwards.The latest Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data showed that power consumption has grown by 6.4% to 136.44 billion units in July this year, from 128.25 billion units in the same month of 2022.