Chennai faces power cut at night for 2nd day as demand crosses 4000 MW

CHENNAI: Chennai's power demand crossed the 4000 MW mark for the first time on Tuesday night with several localities witnessing power cuts for successive days.

On Tuesday night, the city's peak power demand an all-time high of 4,016 MW bettering the previous high of 3,991 MW recorded on May 15. The daily energy consumption also touched a record high of 90.34 million units on Tuesday.

As the city reeled under scorching heat with temperature touching 42.7 degrees Celsius in Meenambakkam, the power demand also went up with the people turning to air conditioners for relief. A few places in Chennai and adjoining areas including Kolathur, Royapuram, Ambattur, Manapakkam, Guduvanchery, East Tambaram, Annanur, Madipakkam and Puzhuthivakkam witnessed power cuts during the night time.

Karthik Pandian, a resident of Madipakkam tweeted that his locality is facing daily power cuts ranging from two to four times for a duration of 15 minutes to 30 minutes. "Our calls to the local Tangedco office go unattended. Please take steps to avoid power cuts, " he wrote.

No power shutdown till May 31: Senthilbalaji

Reviewing the power demand situation during the summer, Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji instructed the chief engineers of the distribution regions and Superintendent Engineers not to enforce the power shutdown of the substations during the summer till May 31.

"To rectify the power cuts happening during the night on time, all the officials should enough manpower to attend to the complaints. The complaints received on power cuts and through minnagam should be resolved immediately, " he said.

He noted that 13 new 400 KV substations were set up in the city and 3000 km of overhead cables were converted into the underground and 4,749 ring main units and 3,447 transformers were set up in 2022-23.

"I have instructed the officials to compile a list of works needed to strengthen the city's distribution infrastructure to meet the increased power demand, " he said, adding that underground cables laid years back were not able to meet increased demand and it would be replaced soon.