NEW DELHI:
India's energy demand
caught the
winter chill
in
December
, with consumption of
diesel
, petrol and electricity falling as festive demand evaporated to reduce movement of people and materials.
Government data shows power consumption dropping 2.3% to 119 billion units (BU) from a year ago, clocking the first decline since April 2023 when demand had dropped 1.5% to 130 BU. Since then, however, demand had clocked a healthy pace of growth, which spiked to 22% in October.
Industry data shows consumption of diesel, a key indicator of economic activities, falling 7.8% from a year ago, marking the second consecutive month of sharp decline. On monthly basis, however, sales fell less than 1% from November.
Petrol sales dropped 1.4% from December 2022, marking the first annual decline in at least eight months. Sequentially, the drop was sharper at nearly 5% from November as demand waned towards the end of festive and holiday season. The fall comes in spite of healthy car sales.
In contrast, jet fuel sales grew 3.8% from a year ago as people preferred to fly to avoid fog-induced disruptions in rail or road traffic. The growth, however, was less than 6% jump in consumption seen in November. LPG, or household cooking fuel, consumption stayed in the positive territory by posting a marginal growth of a little under 1%.
Diesel sales have been impacted by traffic disruptions caused by cyclone and resultant flooding in the southern region and fog in the north. Sequentially, the drop in electricity consumption was marginal from 119.6 BU in November. The government expects the growth in consumption to top 8% clocked in 2022-23.
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