India's electricity use falls to lowest in five years

India's electricity use plummeted to levels last recorded in March 2015, government data showed on Saturday, due to a nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the coronavirus.
India used 2.59 billion units of electricity on March 27 - the third day of the three week national lockdown ordained by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That was lower by nearly a fourth compared with the average consumption during the first three weeks of March before the lockdown was enforced.
The energy hungry nation's power consumption was lower on March 1, 2015 - when the country's total electricity generation capacity was more than 25% lower than the current potential.
Barring three eastern states, all regions registered a fall in demand as all offices and industries other than those considered essential have been shut. Power sector experts say essential industrial activity such as mining in mineral-rich states such as Odisha and Jharkhand, which also produce steel, could have resulted in higher electricity use.