New Delhi: Even as the demand for electricity across the state touched a new high of 16,214MW on Monday amid rising temperatures, the state government had to buy 40 million units (MU) from the open market at Rs 6.14 per unit, the highest so far. This punctured the government’s claim of being a power-surplus state. The state government may have to shell out more as the demand is expected to peak further to 17,000MW in the coming months amid rising price of electricity in the open market.

“For the first time, the peak power demand in summer has crossed 16,214MW — it crossed the mark on Monday afternoon and declined in the evening,” said a senior official in the state energy and petrochemicals department. “In the wake of demand-supply gap to the tune of 4,835MW due to high demand, the state had to procure power from the open market at the highest rate so far.” The power requirement was pegged at 330MU on Monday.

The average rate of power on Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) has steadily increased from Rs 3.19 per unit to Rs 6.27 per unit during the month. The surge in price is mainly on account of higher demand amid lower supply