Electricity demand shrank almost a fifth in April 2020 as commercial and industrial operation effectively ceased amid a national shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Among countries with higher numbers of manufacturing units, such as Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, demand has decreased dramatically by 30-50 per cent.
In Crisil 's note "Volt-face in Power Corridors," the Commission highlighted these issues related to the current scenario of the power sector in the region.
Put another way, Crisil said it's like getting a complete blackout every alternate or third day!
However, the upshot, according to him, is that "Power demand growth, which was already low last fiscal year, may lead to the de-growth of this fiscal."
“That said, there was some offset because about 1.4 billion people stayed at home, of which millions also worked from home, leading to a surge in domestic electricity consumption via more recharging of devices, more videos streamed, more online content consumed, and more cooking at home, often involving use of electrical appliances,” the note mentioned.
This increase in demand has caused a slack-demand blow to Andhra Pradesh , Bihar, Odisha and Haryana in particular, who have a substantial domestic consumer base.
Lower demand from industrial users, who pay the highest tariffs and cross-subsidize domestic and agricultural users, would have affected revenue from discomfort. The recovery of the sector will depend on how quickly economic activity rebounds, reboots and rebounds.
In its overall study entitled 'Covid Corollaries,' Crisil argued that the state-wise assessment of the demand for power showed that the top 20 countries accounted for around 95 per cent of the demand for power, and that these countries were hit hard by the lockdown.
And the top five energy-consuming countries saw demand fall by a quarter on average in April.
