The increase in power generation capacity, along with the reduction in transmission losses helped the country reduce its average duration of power cuts during the summer season this year compared to the last three years.

The average duration of power cuts tends to increase during the four-month period in India due to an increase in the demand for electricity across the country.

Even in 2018, India witnessed longer duration of power cuts during the summers compared to the winter season which lasts from December to February, but interestingly, the average length of power cuts across India has substantially reduced, according to data sourced from the ministry of power’s ‘Urja’ portal.

During June 2018, the average duration of power cuts across India was 8.6 hours as compared to 10.2 hours during the same month, last year and 16.3 hours during June 2016.

A similar trend was seen during other months of the summer season. For instance, the average duration of power cuts in April 2018 reduced to 6.45 hours as compared to 19.4 hours in the same month, two years ago.

Even in May 2018, the average duration of power cuts reduced to 7.5 hours from 19.2 hours during the same period.

India not only managed to reduce the average duration of power cuts but also the average number of power cuts this summer season.

In June 2018, there were as many as 13 power cuts on-an-average, across India as compared to 15 power cuts during the same month, last year. Even April 2018 saw fewer power cuts this year as compared to the previous two years. May, was the only outlier, recorded marginal increase in the average number of power cuts during the same period.

State of States

For some states, the average duration of power cuts was even better than the national average. Kerala and Tripura recorded the average duration of power cuts as low as 0.4 hours during June 2018. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Bihar witnessed less than 3 hours of power cut during the same period.

On the contrary, states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttarakhand witnessed more extended blackouts during June 2018. J&K for instance, recorded 40.2 hours of power cut during the month, almost 5x longer than the national average. Similarly, Haryana and Uttarakhand also recorded more than 30 hours of power cut on-an-average during June 2018.