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New Delhi: The Ministry of Power urged citizens to use power “wisely” and “judiciously” on May 22, after power demand in the country broke records for four consecutive days, from May 18 to 21.

The ministry attributed this huge surge in power demand to the use of cooling appliances during the ongoing heatwave.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) meanwhile announced on May 22 that the heatwave is likely to continue for at least six days across several parts of India.

Record-breaking power demand

According to a statement by the Ministry, electricity demand “has broken all previous records” in the last four days.

The daytime peak electricity demand — which usually occurs between 2 pm and 4 pm — was 257.37 gigawatts (GW) on May 18, 260.45 GW on May 19, 265.44 GW on May 20 and 270.82 GW on May 21, per data released by the Ministry.

“Today’s peak demand was met with the following mix: Thermal 62.8%, Solar 22.0%, Wind 5.0%, Hydro 5.8% and rest from other........

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