In order to fulfil the rising demand for electricity due to the intense summer heat, India's power producing companies have doubled their purchases of natural gas from a domestic exchange in recent months.
According to data released by the company, the Indian Gas Exchange, the biggest gas-trading platform in the nation, sold 4.5 trillion British Thermal Units to power companies between April 1 and May 26. Compared to the same time last year, that is an almost 350% increase.
This summer, intense heat waves have affected large portions of India, causing peak electricity demand to reach all-time highs throughout the day and at night.

Although the war in Iran has increased prices and made fuel more difficult to purchase than in other years, the country has deployed gas-fired power generation to help meet the demand rise during the hot nights. According to data from Grid Controller of India, this has led to supply shortages of up to 5 gigawatts during peak nighttime hours.
Just 2% of India's electricity comes from natural gas. The nation possesses over 20 gigawatts of gas-fired capacity, which is primarily utilised as a backup to handle evening demand spikes. Due to petrol shortages, less than half of that capacity has been used this summer.

According to Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, the exchange's CEO, all of the volume sold to the power industry this summer is regasified liquefied natural gas. According to IGX data, during the April–May period, companies paid an average of 1,769 rupees ($18.55) per million Btu to purchase the gasoline from the market, which is around 64% more than they did a year earlier.