CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss has alleged that Tamil Nadu's electricity sector has been deliberately weakened to facilitate corruption through costly power purchases from private sources.
Citing the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board's (TNEB) 2024–25 annual report, Anbumani said that only 16% of the electricity supplied to households and commercial establishments was generated by TNEB, while as much as 80.66% was procured from external sources. He described it as shameful that after 73 years of the board's existence, the state can produce only one-sixth of its power requirement.
According to Anbumani, TNEB sold 13,860 crore units of electricity during the year, of which just 2,240 crore units (16.16%) came from its own thermal power plants, and 440 crore units from hydel power. Even combined, in-house generation stood at only 19.34%. In contrast, 11,179 crore units were purchased from central utilities, private producers and power exchanges.
He pointed out that TNEB spent Rs 75,960 crore on power purchases in 2024–25 alone. "If this amount had been invested in new thermal projects, Tamil Nadu could have built 6,000 MW of capacity and produced 9,000 crore units annually, eventually becoming a power-surplus state capable of halving electricity tariffs," he added.
Anbumani alleged that the DMK government is unwilling to commission new power projects because large-scale power purchases enable corruption. He claimed that despite massive tariff hikes since 2022, yielding over Rs 1.28 lakh crore in additional revenue, TNEB continues to incur losses due to irregularities in power procurement.