Cold winter pushes peak power demand past summer high: Report

Citing experts, the report said the atypical winter surge reflects a combination of a subdued summer and a colder-than-usual winter

Peak electricity demand this winter has crossed last summer’s record on at least two occasions, amid unusually cold weather conditions across large parts of the country, the Indian Express reported on January 16.

According to the report, the maximum demand met touched 245 GW on January 9 and 243 GW on January 13, exceeding the previous peak of 242 GW recorded on June 12 last year.

Typically, power consumption peaks in the summer months of June and July or during early autumn in September and October, driven largely by air-conditioner usage in homes and commercial spaces. This year, however, intermittent rainfall and relatively moderate temperatures kept cooling demand in check, leaving the summer peak significantly below the projected 277 GW, the report said.

Citing experts, the report said the atypical winter surge reflects a combination of a subdued summer and a colder-than-usual winter. The last time winter demand overtook summer levels was in 2020–21, when Covid-related disruptions altered normal consumption trends.

It is worth noting that peak demand figures—whether daily or monthly—serve primarily as statistical markers, as they capture the highest load reached at any point in time on a given day, often for a short duration.

In January 2021, soon after the pandemic, peak demand rose to 190 GW, surpassing the summer high of 177 GW recorded in September that year, the newspaper said. Outside of that anomaly, winter demand has typically stayed below summer levels. That trend shifted again in December 2025, when peak demand reached 241 GW—close to the summer record—and marked a year-on-year increase of more than 7%, based on data from GRID India and the Central Electricity Authority, Express said.