(Image source from: nypost.com)

According to the general reports, it is believed that one of the key markers of the impacts on the economy is marked by the decline in the consumption of the electricity. The restrictions imposed globally because of the impacts of the coronavirus have adversely impacted the electricity consumption across the world.

But, according to a conducted study, it has been observed that the decline in the electricity consumption in India is lower than that of US and a number of other European countries, irrespective of the differences in the population.

The data was analysed by a team of researchers at the Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC), which noticed that India experienced nearly 25% decline in its electricity consumption in the last week of March while it was on the 21 days lockdown.

The same acquired data was then compared with the same of the other countries amidst the time of January and April wherein similar restrictions were imposed because of the global pandemic of coronavirus.

While China reported a maximum decline of 14.98% in the month of December, U.S reported a 6.9% decline followed by 9.7% in some of the European countries.

Unlike the other countries, China doesn’t provide with daily reports of its electricity consumption and it is likely that the data shared by them might not be accurate but the same holds true for the rest of the data from the other countries.

The tracker is based off of the daily electricity data that has been provided by India’s Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO). According to the data, it has been suggested that the sharp decline in the electrical consumption in the country was witnessed post March 22, 2020 after the Janata Curfew was imposed.

The lowest consumption was reported on March 27 which then gradually started to increase when in the first week of April. But, even with the increase that was noted in the tracker, it was mentioned that the decline was still 18% less than what was reported back in December.

The sudden drop and decline in the electricity consumption in India has been linked with the lack of commercial activity and the kind of restrictions that have been imposed across the country. Be it the closure of the public spots or even the functional restaurants, these further contributes to the decline furthermore.

The sudden drop in the electricity consumption is also proportional to the current economic state of the country, according to the experts.

United States has still not imposed a nationwide lockdown while most of the states around have issued stay at home orders. The same goes out for China as well, which imposed the restrictions on Hubei province but there was no significant impacts on the domestic travel and the economic activities that were happening in the country.

Several European countries have also imposed several restrictions but the ones witnessed in India have been deduced as the most stringent of them all. The reports have been consolidated by a tracker developed by Blavatnik School of Government.

By Somapika Dutta