Mumbai: Power situation in Maharashtra has worsened with the demand during October shooting up by an unprecedented 2,000 mw prompting the state power distribution company, to ask people to use power economically.

"People should cooperate and not to resort to agitations which may further aggravate the problem," Maharashtra State Power Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) also called Mahavitran said in a statement issued here today. "Evening peak hour demand stood at a whopping 15037 MW on October 18 compared to 13058 MW during October last year. On October 16, the demand was for 14,509 MW and on October 17 it was 14820 MW," the statement said.

Incidentally, the supply on October 18 was 10475 MW resulting in a shortage of 4562 MW. "Even though there is rise in demand, load-shedding is well managed and is in limit. Load shedding hours are planned as per the protocol approved by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Authority," the statement said.

Normally, power demand in the state goes up by 700-800 MW every year. But during this October, it has increased by 2000 MW. The demand for power on October 18 was over 15,000 MW while 10475 MW power was available from all the sources including state projects, central government projects, Ratnagiri Gas Power Project Ltd and bilateral power purchases. "As the demand has gone up unexpectedly, efforts are made on a war footing to alleviate the situation," the statement said.

Power demand in the country has gone up due to rising economy. Like Maharashtra, other states are also facing power shortage. Hence getting power from other states to tide the gap has also become difficult, the statement said.