It was the most-watched game here since World Cup 2006 kicked off on June 9, going by the electricity consumed between 10pm on June 30 and 12.30 the next morning.

While the two titans of world football slugged it out, power usage in the Kingdom soared 450 megawatts above average - the greatest recorded electricity consumption since the 2006 event got underway.

Electricity consumption had increased by 21.13 million units since the World Cup started, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) said.

Egat deputy governor Khamphui Jirararuensak said by the final whistle in Sunday's final, total additional consumption will have topped 30 million units.

"Power consumption during the semi-finals should not increase by more than 450 megawatts [per match]," he said.

The quarter-finals alone had pushed power consumption up 3.23 million units, with each match accounting for a 250-450MW surge.

During the 16 matches of the June 9 to 23 first round, power consumption beat norms by 100-300 MW - that is a total of 13.60 million additional units. The most popular match of the round-robin stage was Brazil against Australia on June 18, when consumption jumped 300 MW.

Electricity consumption in the round of 16 totalled 4.3 million units, at an average of 200-350MW above normal per game.