Kolkata: Of the 8.5 lakh air-conditioners that were in use in homes last Tuesday, 7.6 lakh ACs stayed shut on Monday night with the thunderstorm pulling down the temperature dramatically. Similarly, in Salt Lake and New Town, which is serviced by WBSEDCL, around 1.5 lakh ACs were not operated on Monday night.
On Monday midnight, after the storm was over, the peak electricity demand in the CESC area — that includes Kolkata and adjoining urban areas — was 1,406 MW.This is a whopping 1,092 MW lower than the consumption of 2,498 MW at midnight a week ago, on April 30.
Such was the cooling impact of Monday evening's downpour that afternoon peak demand on Tuesday was 1,862 MW, almost 24% lower than the demand of 2,435 MW clocked before the storm on Monday afternoon.
Compared with April 26, when the peak demand in the afternoon had touched a record 2,728 MW, Tuesday's afternoon demand was down 32%.
The rain not only brought relief to people, it also helped the power utilities breathe easy. The continued heatwave had led to record installation of ACs, which spiked the load and caused fusing and tripping in multiple localities.
The rain has not only temporarily halted the AC buying spree, it has also given the power infrastructure — transformers and cables — a much-needed breather. The high demand, coupled with the extreme heat, had led to overheating and faults in cables.
Some faults and outages were reported from Santosh Mitra Square, Ekdalia Road and Sahapur on Monday night as well. But the blackout was less painful than what it had been in the past month as the weather had turned from unbearable to pleasant.