As the state-wide intense heat conditions continue to prevail unabated amid delayed monsoon, Uttar Pradesh is setting new records of electricity demand with the rural areas feeling the heat generated by emergency load shedding.
On Thursday, the maximum peak demand reached a record 32,634 MW at 9.54 PM, the highest-ever in the state’s history. The last highest demand was recorded to be 32,348 MW on June 21. Uttar Pradesh is believed to the state with the highest peak demand these days.
On Thursday, there came another peak at 12.39 AM when the mid-night demand reached 32,402 MW. “We met a record 32,634 MW power demand on Thursday evening. This was the highest demand ever recorded in UP,” a senior UP State Load Dispatch Centre official said.
The highest peak demand in UP in 2025 was recorded to be 31, 486 MW on May 24. The power demand is expected to further increase if the monsoon remains elusive or weak. UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) officials said the unprecedented power demand continuing for two months had put the summer planning upside down.
“Despite all the arrangements, there is a power deficit of more than 2,000-3,000 MW during the peak time every day because of which we are compelled to resort to emergency load shedding for 6-7 hours in villages,” an official said.
He, however, claimed that no rostering was made in villages in daytime. He said intermittent outages of power generation units too often add to the problem. “We have also avoided rostering in cities so far despite all the constraints and the power cuts the cities experience is due to local faults,” he added.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti has stated that the widening gap between rapidly increasing electricity demand and the severe shortage of power employees is placing an unprecedented strain on the state’s power system.
“During the peak summer season, electricity demand continues to break new records, but years of inadequate recruitment, a large number of vacant posts, and the retrenchment of contract workers have made fault restoration, maintenance of power lines, and timely electricity supply to consumers increasingly difficult,” Samiti convenor Shailendra Dubey said.
He appealed to the chief minister to accord the highest priority to maintaining a reliable and quality power supply by immediately reinstating all retrenched contract workers, withdrawing all punitive and victimisation action taken against employees in the name of industrial movements since March 2023, and initiating regular recruitment against vacant posts in proportion to the increased electricity demand and the growing consumer base.
