Tangedco urged to take steps to avoid further power cuts

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers’ Association has urged Tangedco and the State Government to take immediate steps to augment power supply so that further power cut is avoided.

It has also demanded that the available power should be distributed equitably across the state without any preferential treatment to Chennai and select consumers.

In a statement, D.Balasundaram, President, TECA, Coimbatore, voicing concern over reports that the power cut (Restriction and Control Measures) might be increased to 40 per cent due to reasons like growing power consumption, the anticipated effect of El Nino on South West monsoon etc, urged Tangedco to take urgent steps to prevent any worsening of power situation.

Pointing out that the wind season was set to commence in the State, he said if the entire wind power was evacuated, the State would get additional power of nearly 1,000 MW by the end of May. The organisation could take steps to source more power from the suppliers. He said already, Tangedco was serving the demand for more than 12,000 MW of power and consumption of over 270 million units during working days that was made possible by a combination of local power generation and sourcing of power from outside. But the power situation could come under stress if the demand continued to rise, and if the South West monsoon is delayed which could push up demand from the farm sector. In such a situation, relief could come only from wind power.

Balasundaram asked the Tangedco to come clean on the current power situation and how the situation is likely to unfold in the near future. But the available power should be distributed in an equitable way across Tamil Nadu without any "preference shown to Chennai region and certain select consumers", he said.