Electricity demand in the state rose by 1,000 MW in two weeks and is expected to increase further as summer intensifies. Tangedco officials said that Chennai's power usage has been lower than anticipated due to the lovely weather.
In the first week of February, Tamil Nadu's peak electricity consumption was around 15,000 MW, while in the third week, it exceeded 16,100 MW. On
Saturday of the final week of February, 16,783MW was the highest amount ever recorded. The peak demand was only 15,673 MW on February 25 of previous year. Tangedco, this may be due to increased usage in the districts for industrial and agricultural uses. Officials stated that even though they had anticipated 2,500MW of demand, it has remained consistent at roughly 2,300MW because the weather in Chennai has not yet been severe. Chennai's demand alone will approach 4,000MW during the height of the summer. Chennai utilised up to 25% of the supplies during the summer of last year.
"As summer approaches, demand in the agricultural sector will climb to 4,000 MW in order to pump more water, while home category demand in the districts will increase to 8,000 MW due to an increase in the usage of air conditioners. The demand from industries is anticipated to exceed 3,000MW. So, according to officials, the peak demand will shortly reach 18,000MW. Tangedo has arrangements for short term power purchase in place to meet the demand. In 2022, April 29 saw the highest demand of 17,563 MW and the highest day electricity usage of 388.08 million units.
