Adequate coal stock in thermal plantsImage Credit source: ai generated
At present, fire is raining from the sky in North, Central and Western India. With the rise in mercury, ACs and coolers have started running at full capacity in every house, due to which electricity consumption has broken all its previous records. Meanwhile, rumors of coal shortage and blackout on social media have increased the concern of the common man. Questions started arising whether we will have to face long power cuts in this scorching heat? Now the government has completely clarified the situation on this. Press Information Bureau (PIB) has completely rejected all these claims and said that there is no power crisis in the country and our power grid is completely safe and stable.
Adequate reserves of coal in thermal plants
For the past few days, news of heavy pressure on the National Grid and shortage of coal in thermal power plants was going viral on social media. Putting an end to these misleading claims, the government has clarified that there is sufficient stock of coal in the power houses of the country. At present 53.702 million tonnes of coal is available, which is enough to meet the current needs uninterrupted. Moreover, on May 2, 2026, the country successfully met the peak power demand of 229 gigawatt (GW) without any curtailment. Grid operations are being managed within prescribed standards and frequency control systems are active, ensuring its stability under all circumstances.
Consumption records are being broken, yet supply is fine
In view of the havoc of summer, the Electricity Ministry has also released detailed figures. The demand has been increasing continuously since the second fortnight of April. Electricity demand reached its all-time high of 256.1 GW at 3:38 pm on April 25, 2026. It is a matter of relief that this historic demand was fulfilled without any hindrance. Not only this, along with meeting our own needs, export of electricity continued to neighboring countries also.
According to the data, compared to last year, there has been a big jump of 8 to 9 percent in electricity consumption between April 1 and 27. However, on Sunday, April 26, due to reduced business and industrial activities and dust storm and rain in some areas, a slight softening in demand (238.15 GW) was definitely recorded. If we look at the data of the last few years, this graph of consumption becomes clearly understandable. While the peak demand in September 2023 was 243.27 GW, it reached 250 GW in May 2024. Last year, i.e. in 2025, the maximum demand recorded in the month of June was 242.77 gigawatts.
What are your preparations for the coming days?
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert of severe heat wave and extremely hot summer this year. In view of this, the Center has also given strict instructions to all the states to keep ‘heat stroke management units’ and ambulances ready in hospitals. Experts estimate that as the heat increases in May and June, the use of cooling equipment will increase, due to which the demand for electricity may reach close to 270 GW.
The government seems confident to deal with this huge challenge. The Ministry of Power says that the production capacity has been increased by about 65 gigawatts during the financial year 2026. On the basis of this strong infrastructure, the system is completely ready, so that in this difficult summer season, the general public and industries continue to get electricity without any hindrance.
