CM Vijay reviews power supply, asks officials to ensure reliable supply across Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday reviewed the power supply situation, infrastructure, and consumer services at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board headquarters and directed officials to ensure uninterrupted and reliable power supply.

The officials briefed Vijay on power demand and generation, availability from renewable and non-renewable sources, the gap between demand and available capacity, and the continuing rise in electricity consumption.

The meeting also discussed challenges in meeting the increasing demand, including restrictions on procuring power from the market, coal availability, the high cost of gas-based generation, and unexpected outages at central generating stations. Vijay also reviewed preparations to meet the anticipated power demand during 2027 summer and discussed an action plan to address the projected requirement.

The review covered challenges in the distribution network, including ageing infrastructure and equipment, major faults, network congestion caused by rising loads, factors affecting supply quality, disruptions due to rain, storms and strong winds, and shortage of field personnel.

Electricity Minister R Nirmalkumar said people should not obstruct TNPDCL personnel engaged in restoring power supply, even as he acknowledged public frustration.

“People's frustration over interruptions in power supply is understandable, but they should not lay siege to substations or disturb field personnel who are busy fixing the problem,” he said, while responding to complaints about TNPDCL officials being unavailable over the phone to register power outage complaints.

Nirmalkumar attributed some of the recent interruptions to inadequate maintenance of distribution assets ahead of summer under the previous DMK government. “Citing elections, the previous government postponed maintenance of distribution assets such as substations and transformers. They eventually could not withstand the surging load and failed, leading to power cuts,” he said.

To tackle the disruptions, field officers have been authorised to engage up to 18,000 workers on a contract basis for six months, he said. Up to 6,000 transformers would be installed or upgraded over the next year to handle the growing load, he added.

“Tamil Nadu also needs 600 substations to strengthen the distribution infrastructure. These will be set up in a phased manner over the next five years,” Nirmalkumar said. He cited the recent incident at Perambur, where additional load was transferred from the Stanley substation following a problem. The Stanley substation subsequently came under excessive load and a fire broke out. “Such incidents show the need to increase the capacity of the distribution network,” he said.

He said a detailed plan on meeting the power demand during the next summer was presented to the Chief Minister during the review.

The minister also said an AI-enabled grievance redressal mechanism for electricity consumers was being planned. The state is also set to release its battery energy storage policy in October, which would enable surplus wind and solar power to be stored and used to meet peak demand, he added.

Chief Secretary M Sai Kumar, Energy Department Principal Secretary Anil Meshram, TNEB chairman and managing director V Arun Roy and other senior officials attended the review.