On Friday (May 22, 2026), the Ministry of Power said electricity demand had broken all previous records, with peak demand rising to nearly 271 GW on Thursday (May 21, 2026). The government has highlighted that such record demands are being met, presenting it as evidence of the strength of India’s electricity system. Yet reports of power cuts from many parts of the country continue to surface. Even while stressing preparedness, the Ministry also urged consumers to use electricity judiciously.

India’s peak power deficit as reported on Friday (May 22, 2026) stood at about 1.7 GW, according to Grid-India. This would have translated into load shedding and blackouts in some areas.

However, the actual deficit is likely higher and largely unreported, say some experts. Modern Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems monitor demand and help dispatch centres route electricity to maintain grid stability and prevent widespread blackouts. Vishnu Rao, team leader for electricity governance at Citizen consumer and civic Action Group, Chennai, says dispatch centres work at the macro level and local outages and curtailed demand are often excluded from official figures.

Areas may be deliberately disconnected by distribution companies operating independently of state load dispatch centres and in separate silos, meaning such suppressed demand is never recorded, he says. “These local disruptions can be extensive yet remain outside the public domain,” adds Mr. Vishnu Rao.

Deepak Krishnan, Deputy Director (Energy Program), WRI India, is however skeptical if power distributors are continuing to suppress demand in a significant way and points to error margins being reported by Grid-India as an indication of unprecedented heat stresses affecting electricity demand. These error percentages express the deviation between the demand forecast and the actual demand. On a recent day, these errors were 4% for previous day forecast and a little above 1% for real time (short term) forecast. India’s total peak demand is roughly equal to the installed capacity of its thermal and hydroelectric plants capable of supplying stable power. On paper, this suggests sufficient generation capacity. The situation is not very different from that in the U.S., where peak demand is also close to thermal, hydro and nuclear capacity. Yet power cuts there are extremely rare.

Some experts point to distribution issues. K. Ashok Rao, patron of India’s Power Engineers Association, argues that distribution infrastructure has failed to keep pace with rapidly rising demand. He says privatisation of profitable distribution segments has weakened State-owned discoms, which already struggle financially because a large share of consumers cannot afford higher tariffs, leaving the companies with little money for boosting infrastructure.

Meanwhile, power cuts across Uttar Pradesh have generated much consternation among people there. Bengaluru has experienced frequent power cuts and prolonged outages in recent weeks. While the State distributor has blamed maintenance work, transformer tripping and weather-related faults, residents in areas such as HRBR Layout, Chandapura and Whitefield say outages lasting several hours have become routine. In some places, scheduled feeder maintenance shutdowns have stretched from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., while unscheduled cuts and voltage fluctuations have added to consumer frustration.

Kerala faced difficulties in April, when power cuts of under 30 minutes were imposed during peak hours. This month, stronger summer rainfall has eased the situation by reducing demand. The State generates only about 30% of its electricity, largely from hydropower, and depends on purchases to meet evening peak demand.

In Tamil Nadu, peak demand was higher in April than in May and was met partly through short-term power purchases. Although official load shedding figures remain at zero, a senior State electricity department official acknowledged that local supply disruptions have affected parts of Chennai.

Mr. Krishnan says there are several other factors too behind localized power cuts. He says that although all of India is one grid on paper, transmission bottlenecks could prevent power flow from surplus to deficit areas; in addition, local grid constraints/infrastructure weakness could also be an issue.

Mr. Ashok Rao also points to the challenge of fluctuating renewable energy. Renewable generators, he says, have no responsibility toward grid stability, leaving the burden on grid managers. “A sudden cloud cover can throw a large chunk of solar power out of the grid and this is not sustainable,” he says. Currently, renewables account for 17% of India’s electricity generation, compared with 72% from thermal power, 9% from hydro and 2% from nuclear energy.

Others argue that advanced forecasting technologies are available to help integrate renewable power more effectively into the grid. These technologies have been successfully deployed in nations such as Germany with high renewable penetration.

Mr. Krishnan of WRI points out that peak demands are happening when solar energy has wound down, while power cuts happening in the evenings cannot be blamed for nstabilities due to solar power.

(With inputs from Tiki Rajwi, Rishita Khanna and R. Srikanth)

Published – May 24, 2026 08:42 am IST