TNB records highest electricity demand in Malaysia
The exceptionally hot weather in the past few days pushed electricity consumption to its highest in peninsular Malaysia, with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) recording an all time high peak demand of 17,175 megawatt (MW) on Wednesday, March 9.
The heatwave, due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, has seen the consumer demand for energy climbing since Monday, breaching the 17,000 MW peak demand threshold. This broke the previous record in peak demand of 16,901 MW registered on June 6, 2014.
TNB said that with the sufficient electricity generation in place, the higher demand projected will not have any impact on the reliability of power supply. The peninsula’s current totalled installed capacity stands at 22,220 MW, out of which 11,818 MW is TNB’s own capacity while the balance is the total installed capacity of the Independent Power Producers.
In line with the government’s call for efficient use of energy, electricity customers are encouraged to adopt the following measures during peak hours of energy consumption (2-5 PM):
- Setting air conditioners at 23-25 degree Celcius
- Ironing and washing their clothes at night
- Boiling water during off peak hours
- Operating their machines or factories at night (large power users like cement manufacturers and steel millers)