Rise in use of fans, ACs leading to surge in demand, causing power cuts in Mumbai: BEST

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The scorching weather has led to increase in the use of fans and air conditioners, leading to a surge in electricity demand and causing frequent power cuts in Mumbai, the country's financial capital, power utility BEST said on Friday.

The civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), which supplies power to the Island City area of the metropolis, attributed a power cut in the CP Tank locality to the higher demand.

"Due to large increase in the temperature, people are using ACs and fans more, resulting in heavy demand and consumption of electricity suddenly. This may affects network and generates cable or feeder faults across Island City," a spokesperson for the undertaking said.

Many parts of the country are presently witnessing a heat wave. Day temperatures are higher by about 5 degrees Celsius above normal in several areas.

India's energy demand touched an all-time high of 2.07 lakh megawatts on Friday afternoon.

Maharashtra had earlier said it was staring at energy deficit of over 3,000 mw. It has had to resort to power cuts to save the grid from collapsing.

Areas in south Mumbai like Prabhadevi and Mumbadevi, which are serviced by the BEST, have witnessed power cuts in the evenings in the last two-three days when the demand for power typically surges.

Earlier this week, many parts of Mumbai including some pockets served by BEST had to face a power cut for over an hour in an incident attributed to the tripping of a line.

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