'Tangedco saves ₹1,312 cr through power purchase for summer'

CHENNAI: Electricity minister V Senthilbalaji on Tuesday said that Tangedco has signed short-term power purchase agreements to buy 1,562 MW power at Rs 8.50 per unit for March to May, as the price in the market would vary from Rs 12 to Rs 20 per unit during summer.

After reviewing Tangedco’s preparedness to meet the summer power demand, the minister said that the utility would save Rs 1,312 crore through a power purchase agreement.

He, in a statement, said that Tangedco has reduced procurement of power from the private generators by increasing generation from the thermal and hydro energy sources in this fiscal year. "The annual generation from its own thermal plants up to February 2023 has increased by 9.5 per cent to 20,307 MU from 18,535 million units (MU) up to February 2022. Similarly, generation from hydro sources has increased by 10 per cent to 5,905 MU till February this year from 5,139 MU up to February last year.”

On summer power demand, he said that the power demand in the state has increased from 16,500 MW to 17,500 MW in the last few weeks and recorded an all-time high on March 4 (17,584 MW), but it was managed without load shedding and no power cuts were reported. "The demand is expected to go up to 18,100 MW in March and 18,500 MW in April," said the minister.

Senthilbalaji noted that Tangedco currently maintains 7.99 lakh metric tonnes of coal as stock for all five thermal plants in the State that will last for 11 days, compared to just 1.83 lakh metric tonnes during the same period last year.

The minister also said that the maintenance works of Tangedco have been postponed owing to the board exams for Class 10 and Class 12 students to ensure an uninterrupted power supply for preparation for exams.

He said that 99.75 per cent of the domestic, power loom, handloom and agricultural consumers have linked their Aadhaar with their respective service connections.