India's peak electricity demand rose about 12 per cent during April to June year?on?year and reached an all?time high of 270.8 GW in May, the government told the Rajya Sabha. The evening supply gap widened to 3,045 MW in June, with non?solar peak demand at 255,172 MW and peak supply met at 252,127 MW.

Northern states accounted for much of the shortfall, with evening peak demand at 95,919 MW against 93,269 MW met, leaving a gap of 2,650 MW. State reports showed Bihar had demand of 8,702 MW with 7,784 MW met, Maharashtra faced 32,193 MW against 31,338 MW supplied and Punjab recorded 12,812 MW demand with 12,352 MW met. The government cited transmission and distribution constraints.

The ministry said installed generation capacity was 548.86 GW as of June 2026, with 324.7 GW added since April 2014. Thermal generation accounted for 72.71 per cent of output in April, 69.90 per cent in May and 68.39 per cent in June, while the renewable share including large hydro rose from 24.13 per cent in April to 28.11 per cent in June.

The response linked higher demand partly to El Nino conditions that increased electricity requirements. It said there was no immediate difficulty in meeting peaks as fossil fuel resources were supplemented by renewables, but added that renewable energy would require storage at an exponential rate over the medium to long term.

Government projections envisage about 39.88 GW of battery storage and 10.95 GW of pumped storage to be added in fiscal years 2027?28 to 2029?30 to support integration of variable supplies. Officials said grid investments and transmission links remain critical to address regional evening shortages and that coordinated state and central measures are needed to manage peak demand and secure supply adequacy.