Overview
- Punjab’s electricity requirement reached about 17,147 MW late last week and stayed around 17,000 MW into Tuesday, forcing the state utility to draw roughly 11,200–11,850 MW from the northern grid because its own generation remained near 5,600–6,000 MW.
- To bridge the shortfall PSPCL made large short‑term purchases from power exchanges that cost roughly ₹75 crore on a single high‑demand day and still imposed unscheduled cuts and feeder restrictions to protect grid stability.
- Farmers said they did not receive the promised uninterrupted agricultural supply during the peak paddy transplantation period, staged protests at multiple PSPCL offices and warned of further demonstrations on June 30.
- Delhi hit an all‑time peak of 8,748 MW on Monday and officials said advance procurement, long‑term contracts and transmission upgrades allowed the city to meet the load without major outages.
- Meteorological forecasts point to monsoon rains from July 1–2 that could cool temperatures, lower demand and ease immediate pressure on the grid but the episode highlights Punjab’s need for more local capacity, storage and demand‑management measures.