CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's daily electricity consumption scaled a new all-time high for the third successive day, touching 475.447 million units (MU) on Friday as an intense heatwave, fuelled by a weak Southwest Monsoon and El Niño conditions, continued to drive up power demand across the state.
Friday's energy consumption surpassed the previous record of 473.572 MU logged on Thursday, after the state had logged 472.263 MU on Wednesday, highlighting the sustained increase in electricity demand amid persistently high temperatures.
Heatwave-like conditions, coupled with a weak Southwest Monsoon, have pushed up electricity demand during July, a period when consumption typically declines after peaking in April and May.
The state's peak power demand touched an all-time high of 21,724 MW on Tuesday. Demand remained elevated at 21,717 MW on Thursday, well above the previous record of 21,307 MW recorded on April 29, 2026.
Despite the unprecedented demand, the TNPDCL officials said the utility was able to meet the load comfortably due to strong renewable energy generation. Wind and solar power together generated around 150 million units of electricity a day, substantially reducing reliance on conventional power sources.
However, TNPDCL officials said electricity demand is expected to ease from Saturday, as the weather department has forecast widespread rainfall across the state, which is likely to bring down temperatures and reduce the cooling load.