Electricity demand, shortage hit record
NEW DELHI : Electricity usage that began rising in July touched record levels of demand in August as rains waned, driving stocks of power companies to new highs. As demand surged, power shortage also shot up. According to data from the Grid Controller of India, the country saw a record peak shortage of 9.11 gigawatts (GW)—or over 4% of the peak demand—on 21 August, when peak demand was 226GW.
Generation outage, or the unoperational generation capacity, stood at 51.65GW that day. A few days ago, on 17 August, peak demand hit a record 234GW, with a peak shortage of over 7GW. Demand is expected to rise further in the months ahead as rains recede with a strengthening El Nino, focusing attention on coal stocks vital to thermal power production.
Power plants have domestic coal stocks for 11 days, showed data from the National Power Portal, down from 13 days in March. Vikram V., vice president and sector head, corporate ratings, Icra Ltd, said efforts need to be taken to ramp up stocks. The government last week directed plants using imported coal to continue operating at full capacity till October.
The demand surge has aided investor sentiments too. Shares of Tata Power Co. Ltd touched 52-week high last week, following peers such as JSW Energy Ltd, NTPC Ltd and NHPC Ltd, which too have seen 52-week highs in August.
Many other power companies also have seen smart gains, as indicated by the 4.7% gain in the S&P BSE Utilities Index since 17 August, when peak demand touched a record. Power demand started picking up in July after remaining sluggish in the June quarter due to unseasonal rains and weather disturbances. During the April-July period, it was up 2% from a year earlier and in July, it was up 6% year-on-year (y-o-y),
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