New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) With the mercury soaring in the capital, the peak power demand here touched 5,460 MW on Monday afternoon, the highest in April so far, discom officials said.

The peak power demand was 5,460 MW at 3.29 pm on Monday, according to the realtime data of State Load Dispatch Centre, Delhi.

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Delhi is currently reeling under a heatwave with the India Meteorological Department predicting similar conditions for the next two days.

The Met office has issued an 'orange' alert warning of a severe heatwave in the city for Monday.

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The maximum temperature on Sunday reached 41.8 degrees Celsius. A day before, it was 42.4 degrees Celsius, the highest in April in five years.

It is also the first time in 72 years that Delhi has recorded such a high temperature in the first half of April.

Discom officials said the peak power demand of Delhi has increased by over 22 percent since April 1.

So far, Delhi's peak power demand was higher on 100 percent of the corresponding day's vis-à-vis April 2019, 2020 and 2021, they said.

"The unabated heatwave in Delhi is pushing-up the power demand to newer highs. At 3:29 pm today, Delhi's peak power demand touched 5,460 MW, the highest this season in 2022. Incidentally, this is also the highest peak power demand recorded in the national capital in the first two weeks of April," officials said

It is after a gap of three years that the peak power demand of Delhi has crossed 5,000 MW on April 8 and clocked 5,036 MW.

In both 2021 and 2020, Delhi's peak power demand had not crossed the 5K mark in April.

Delhi's peak power demand had breached the 7,000 MW for the first time – peaking at 7,016 MW in 2018. The peak power demand of around 8,200 MW is forecast for 2022 summers.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)