Delhi's power demand hits a new May high of 8,439MW amid heatwave

AMid searing hot up conditions, new delhi’s top force exact touched 8,439MW on Monday — the highest recorded in the city so far this year and the highest-ever for the month of May.Earlier this month, the demand had reached 8,231MW on May 21 and 8,039MW on May 20.“Delhi’s peak power demand has seen a sharp rise in May 2026 compared to previous years, reflecting the impact of an intense and early summer. The city’s demand has already crossed the 8,000MW mark four times within six days,” a power department official said.According to data from the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), the demand peaked at 8,439MW at 3.35pm on Monday.Officials said this was the highest power demand ever recorded in Delhi during May. The city’s demand had not exceeded 8,000MW at any point in May 2025. In comparison, the highest demand recorded in May 2024 was 8,302MW, while in May 2023 it stood at 6,916MW.Data also showed that Delhi’s peak demand remained higher this May than in the previous two years on most days. Between May 1 and May 25, demand in 2026 exceeded the corresponding day’s demand in 2025 on 20 days. It was also higher than 2024 levels on 18 of the 25 days.The trend of rising electricity demand began early this year. On April 27, Delhi’s peak demand crossed the 7,000MW mark for the first time ever in April, touching 7,078MW. In contrast, the 7,000MW threshold was reached only in May during 2024 and 2025.Delhi’s power demand has steadily climbed over the past decade. After touching 7,016MW in 2018, it rose to 7,409MW on July 2, 2019, before dipping during the pandemic year. Demand resumed its upward trajectory thereafter, reaching 7,323MW on July 2, 2021; 7,695MW on June 29, 2022; and 7,438MW on August 22, 2023.In 2024, Delhi recorded its all-time highest demand of 8,656MW on June 19. The following year, the peak stood at 8,442MW on June 12.Officials now expect the city’s demand to cross 9,000MW for the first time this summer.“The expected peak demand of over 9,000MW represents an increase of more than 300% over the peak demand of 2,879MW in 2002,” an official said.Based on current demand trends, officials estimate that Delhi’s peak demand could exceed 10,000MW by 2028-29, depending on weather conditions and consumption patterns.BSES discoms successfully met peak demands of 3,745MW and 1,820MW in their respective areas, a discom official said.The discoms said they are fully geared to ensure a reliable power supply to more than 5.3 million consumers and nearly 22.5 million residents across Delhi. Preparations include long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), bilateral tie-ups, banking arrangements with other states, and deployment of AI- and ML-based demand forecasting systems to estimate load and maintain full-time supply.A Tata Power-DDL spokesperson said the discom successfully met its peak demand of 2,416MW, the highest so far this season, without any network constraint or disruption.“Backed by advanced load forecasting and predictive analytics, the company continues to ensure uninterrupted supply to consumers, even during extreme weather conditions,” the spokesperson said.