Chennai’s power demand increases due to sultry weather

CHENNAI: The city's power demand has began peaking again thanks to sultry weather conditions. Chennai's peak power demand touched the 3,7000 MW mark with increased usage of air conditioners.

Cyclone Mocha which originated over the Bay of Bengal caused cloudy conditions in the city and its suburbs. However, despite the cloud cover, the cyclone led to sultry weather and temperature touching 38 degrees Celsius, the Regional Meteorological Centre bulletin said.

As the cyclone moves northward towards Myanmar, the city's temperature is to cross 40 degrees Celsius in the coming days.

On Friday, Chennai's power demand touched 3,701 MW as against 3,525 MW the previous day.

The city's power demand remained low since the beginning of the month due to rain and cloudy weather conditions.

A Tangedco official said that normally the city's power demand would go up during May coinciding with the peak summer season. "This year, the power demand remained less after crossing the all-time high demand of 3,778 MW on April 20 bettering the previous record of 3,763 MW on June 14, 2022. We expect the power demand to go up in the coming days with the forecast of dry weather conditions. Power demand in the city is mostly driven by the usage of air conditioners with the households having more than one ACs operating at the same time during the night time, " the official said.

As the power demand goes up, the localities in the city's outskirts are facing voltage fluctuations and power cuts. "The voltage fluctuates during the night time. If we switch on the AC at night time, it power boosters make a lot of noise due to power fluctuation. It is scary at times," said Saravanan, a resident of Sivaprakasam Nagar, Surapet.