Kolkata: The city, engulfed in heatwaves, registered this season’s highest power demand of 2,473 MW on Saturday, springing a surprise as demand on weekdays is usually higher than the weekend.
In a week, demand has increased by 803 MW, primarily on account of higher AC usage. CESC officials have estimated that at least 1 lakh new ACs have already been added this summer.This is in addition to the 2 lakh new ACs that were added last year.
With two months still left — May and June— that are usually the worst in terms of heat and humidity, the city could see the addition of 2 lakh more ACs, taking the addition count this year to 3 lakh new ACs.
Addition of 500 ACs of 1.5 tonne capacity leads to the demand of 1 MW power. The 2 lakh domestic ACs that were added last year meant an additional demand of 400 MW.
The 1 lakh more ACs that have been added this year have led to a further addition of 200 MW. The rapid rise in AC usage and growth in demand has also led to power faults and outages.
There was a power cut near Dum Dum airport, at Tarun Sengupta Sarani, Italgacha, on Friday night from 11 pm when domestic AC usage spiked. While power was restored an hour later in some areas, in other localities, the power came back only around 2.45 am after generators were brought in.
There have been similar power faults in Bally and other pockets along the city’s periphery over the last few days. The heat has also led to an increase in cable faults in different parts of the city.
The state government on Friday asked CESC to ensure uninterrupted power supply and implement the usage of generators in case there is an outage. It has also asked the utility to alert consumers of an outage via SMS instead of keeping them in the dark.