Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The demand for electricity has spiked due to withdrawal of the night curfew which has led to an increase in the timings of commercial activities in the cities under the Madhya Pradesh West Zone Electricity Distribution Company. In Indore alone, the demand for electricity has increased by 2.5 lakh units to about 77 lakh units daily. Ratlam, Ujjain and Dewas cities have also seen an increase in power demand. The rise in day and night temperatures is also contributing to the increased demand.
Two days ago, the state government lifted the night curfew. Due to this, shop opening times have increased compared to earlier. The use of electricity has also increased comparatively due to the opening of marriage gardens, hotels and so forth till late at night.
West Discom managing director Amit Tomar said that the demand had nbeen comparatively higher in the past 24 hours. “The total supply in the company’s area stood at 10.04 crore units,” he added.
3,400,000 consumers get power at Re1/unit
As part of the Grah Jyoti Yojana of the state government, around 34 lakh consumers were provided electricity at the rate of Re 1 unit in the Malwa-Nimar region in the past month.
A subsidy of about Rs 135 crore was provided by the government to consumers under the scheme. According to the government scheme, consumers whose consumption of electricity is up to 150 units per month, are charged Re 1 per unit for the first 100 units and, for the remaining 50 units, electricity is charged according to the prescribed rates.
West Discom managing director Amit Tomar said that, out of 15 districts under West Discom, Indore district has the highest number of beneficiaries of around 4.5 lakh. Dhar, Dewas, Barwani, Khargone, Mandsaur, Ratlam and Ujjain have around 2.25 lakh beneficiaries. In other districts, too, the beneficiary figures range from one lakh to 2.25 lakh.
