India power demand in October 2026 falls about 14% as supply shortages ease

Electricity demand cooled steadily through October

Energy met is the electricity the grid actually delivered to consumers in a day. It is measured in million units (MU), meaning millions of kilowatt-hours. All-India energy met fell about 14% over the month, from 5,533 MU on Oct 5 to 4,775 MU on Oct 31. Maximum demand met is the highest load the grid served during the day. It was 225.3 gigawatts (GW) on Oct 31, against about 260.7 GW in the Oct 5–8 window.

The supply squeeze of early October is largely over

Energy shortage is demand the grid could not supply. It peaked at 40.5 MU on Oct 6. On Oct 31 it was 2.55 MU, which is still small.

Oct 31 showed some signs of strain on the grid

• Total generation outage, meaning power plant capacity that was offline, rose to 49.4 GW from 35.4 GW on Oct 22.
• The state-owned part of that outage was 24.4 GW, up from 17.8 GW on Oct 26.
• The shortage during the evening peak hour was 415 megawatts (MW).
• Grid frequency was below 49.7 hertz (Hz) for 6.0% of the day, against 1.1% the day before. Low frequency is a sign that supply is struggling to keep up with demand.
• The Frequency Variation Index, which tracks how much grid frequency moves around, rose to 0.181 from 0.069. That is its highest reading since the stress days of mid-October, but well below the 0.378 recorded on Oct 14.

This is one day to watch, not a reversal.

Coal still supplies most power as hydro and renewables fall

• Coal generation was 3,734 MU, down from a peak of 4,168 MU on Oct 14. That is still about 72% of gross generation of 5,196 MU.
• Hydro output kept falling, to 328 MU from 421 MU on Oct 17.
• Renewables (wind, solar, biomass and others) fell to 800 MU from 938 MU on Oct 28. Solar alone was 644 MU.
• Exports to Bangladesh held steady at about 24 MU a day.