Chennai’s demand for electricity touches all-time high of 3,660 MW

The city’s power demand touched an all-time high of 3,660 MW on Monday, breaking its previous record of 3,537 MW in April last year. On Tuesday, the power demand touched 3,648 MW. The surge in the power demand coincided with the rise in mercury. The city’s temperature has been hovering over 41 to 42 degrees Celsius for the past few days.

With the sudden rise in the power demand, the residents in areas like Pallikaranai, Velachery, Pallavakkam, Madipakkam, Saligrammam, KK Nagar, Vadapalani, Kolathur, Tiruvottiyur and Ambattur had to bear the brunt.

“Since Sunday night, we have been facing power cuts varying from 30 minutes to two hours. Due to the scorching heat, the AC has become a must. Without it, the sweltering heat of the summer makes sleep impossible,” G Thyagarajan, a resident of the Lakshmipuram in Kolathur said.

Several consumers have taken to social media to express their ire over the power cuts. “We have had no power from 10 pm in IIT Colony, Pallikaranai. This is happening for the second day. Sleepless nights are affecting people and there is no proper response from TNEB assistant engineer,” Antony Bennet A, a consumer, tweeted. Most of them who tweeted had complained aboutthe lack of response from the local Tangedco officials for their complaints.

Another consumer, Maruthi Dasan, tweeted: “Households are not even getting 170v till 3 am in the night. Will the government take any steps on this?” He tweeted tagging Avadi MLA and Minister Ma Foi K Pandiarajan.

A senior Tangedco official said that unlike the water shortage faced across the State, the power cuts were not due to the unavailability of power but because of the inadequacy in infrastructure.

“With the power demand crossing 3,600 MW, our distribution infrastructure has been pushed to its limits. In places, where the power distribution infrastructure did not keep pace with the growth of the locality they face power cuts. Most of the city’s power demand is driven by the use of air conditioners and tripping of transformers,” the official said, adding that steps would be taken to erect additional distribution transformers wherever required.