Question : Rural Demand of Power

(a) whether the Government has assessed the demand and consumption of power in urban and rural areas during March-September, 2020;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether rural demand of power has overpowered the urban demand in the recent past;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(e) the extent to which the migration of labourers in agricultural sector has been the factor of increased power demand in rural areas;

(f) whether the dip in power demand in industrial units, railways tourism and aviation sector are responsible for low power demand in urban areas and if so, the details thereof; and

(g) whether there is any sign in increase of power demand in urban areas during the last two months and if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) to (c) : The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had assessed the State wise and month wise overall demand and supply as per the information received from the States and published the Load Generation Balance Report (LGBR) for the financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21, which includes the months of March 2020 to September 2020. Government of India or any of its organisations do not bifurcate the demand into rural and urban areas.

(d) : The requirement for power depends upon many factors including weather and the extent of economic activity. Migration also has an impact on the consumption pattern of electricity.

(e) to (g) : The details of month wise demand and supply of electricity in terms of peak power and energy are furnished at annexure. The peak demand and the energy requirement had dropped by around 23-24% in the month of April 2020 w.r.t. April 2019 due to the effect of the covid pandemic. The peak demand and the energy requirement are increasing on a month to month basis since May 2020. There is a marginal increase in peak demand and energy requirement in the current month of September 2020 (up to 14th September 2020) vis a vis the corresponding period last year.


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