India faces maximum power outages amid ongoing heatwave

A survey conducted by LocalCircles has revealed that India is facing the maximum power cuts in more than six years amid the ongoing heatwave. To be precise, two in three households in India are facing power outages amid rising temperatures and one in three are facing power cuts of more than two hours daily.

To add to the woes, the Delhi government recently cautioned that the growing power crisis due to the coal shortage in India could aggravate the power cut scenario, impacting even metro services and hospitals. The National Capital reported temperatures around 42 to 46 degrees Celsius all of last week. Gujarat, too, has seen a sharp rise in temperatures, prompting the government to issue an advisory to hospitals to set up special wards for heat stroke and other heat-related diseases. Some other states that are also witnessing a high incidence of power cuts amid the surging power demand are Rajasthan, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh.

In view of the situation, a survey was conducted by LocalCircles to understand how the citizens are coping with the power outages and how they are tackling the same in their respective households. Over 21,000 people from 322 districts across the country responded to the survey, which included 66 percent men and 34 percent women. The sample-set included 42 percent metro city or tier 1 district dwellers, 32 percent from tier 2 districts, and 26 percent from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.

The survey revealed that only 34 percent of citizens are "not facing any power outage". "However, 28 percent are facing power outages for up to two hours, 18 percent for two to four hours, 10 percent for four to eight hours, two percent for eight to 12 hours, and two percent for 12 to 24 hours. Six percent said they do not know because they have 24*7 power backup."

The survey further revealed that only 12 percent of households in India have 24*7 power back up and the rest either have an inverter device or have no power back up at all. One of the most common devices that middle-class or lower-middle-class homes have is an inverter that costs anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

The survey revealed that as many as 33 percent of households have not had any power outages in their area yet, 12 percent have 24*7 power back up at home, 41% have inverter/similar device at home, and two percent don't have any power back up device and use battery-operated fans, oil lamps, candles, paper fans, etc. to deal with the outage."

This is expected to worsen in May as the coal shortage continues to impact supplies while demand continues to rise due to the ongoing heatwave.