Powerdemand acrossGujaratsoared to a record high on Tuesday, thanks to the increased consumption ofelectricityin the agriculture sector amid the stalled monsoon. With more and more farmers drawing groundwater using pumps to save their crops, the electricitydemandfrom the agriculture space, too, has reached near its all-time high level.

The states maximum power demand stood at 19,431MW on Tuesday, which is the highest so far, shows the daily data compiled by the Western Region Load Dispatch Centre (WRLDC), which is a central government entity. Previously, the power demand had touched a high of 19,360MW in April this year.

The surge in demand is primarily attributed to the growing usage of electricity by farmers for Irrigation purposes. The consumption in Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture has spiralled as farmers are drawing more ground water to save their crops in the wake of the stalled monsoon, said people closely monitoring power demand-supply in the state.
The also raised the time for supply of power to farmers to 10 hours a day, which has also contributed to the higher consumption.

According to sources, around 110 million units (MUs) or Average 4,583MW of power consumed in the agriculture sector on Tuesday, a tad lower than the all-time high of consumption of 111MUs (about 4,625MW) in agriculture in the state.