Chennai's power demand touches all-time high of 4,648 MW
The energy consumption touched an all-time high of 98.44 million units on Thursday surpassing the previous high of 97.53 MU on May 29.
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CHENNAI: As the city reels under a heatwave, Chennai's peak power demand and daily energy consumption touched yet another all-time high on Thursday.
The peak demand has reached a new high of 4648 MW bettering its previous record of 4590 MW on May 6 this year. The energy consumption touched an all-time high of 98.44 million units on Thursday surpassing the previous high of 97.53 MU on May 29.
With the city's temperature remaining over 40 degrees Celsius for the past five days, the power demand has been on the rise with residents in a few parts of the city complaining of power cuts and voltage fluctuations. At Avadi, the resident of TNHB picketed the TANGEDCO office on Thursday night over the power cut.
A senior TANGEDCO official attributed the rise in power demand to the extensive use of air conditioners in residential and commercial buildings.
The official mentioned that AC usage drives the power demand: "When the temperature drops, AC usage decreases, reducing the power demand. Conversely, when the temperature rises, people rely more on ACs to cope with the hot weather conditions."
The state's peak power demand also increased to 19,299 MW on Thursday while the energy consumption touched 420 million units.
The state's all-time high power demand of 20,840 MW was recorded on May 2.
The highest energy consumption was recorded at 454.320 MU on April 30.
